Jasper's Journey
by Jamitney
Summary: After the events of Super Watermelon Island, Jasper wakes up to the darkness of a deep ocean fissure. Knowing that she could never face Yellow Diamond after this second failure, Jasper tries to figure out what to do with herself, learning things about the earth and herself as a result. First Fanfiction I've ever written. Critique is welcome. Written before AaS.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Bent, but not Broken

Jasper knew she was out of her league.

She had been outnumbered and outmatched. The gems that formed the Alexandrite, even if half or more were defective, were working together. Jasper did not have that luxury. It was no wonder that Malachite, even if Jasper was in control, was defeated. She almost got lucky, if it weren't for those small organic creatures which managed to subdue Malachite for just long enough.

What had she expected? Any gem would know that in that situation they would lose the battle and be poofed and worse yet, shattered. But Jasper knew the reason that she fought.

She didn't have anything to lose anymore.

And she was defeated. Poofed, likely. Shattered? Definitely. She had fought the Crystal Gems before, back in the first war. For all she had done, Jasper didn't expect any mercy.

So why was she self aware and seeing nothing but blackness, instead of the familiarity of her gem's interior?

Why could she feel the same ocean that had trapped her for months around her?

Why could she hear movement in the water of small, harmless organic creatures around her?

Why was she alive?

Jasper didn't know what to expect anymore. She wasn't poofed. She hadn't even been captured. She knew she was underwater and in physical, solid existence. Had the Crystal Gems brought her to this place?

There wasn't an explanation, and Jasper needed one, so she tried to move.

And she did. She felt tired, which to her was the one thing she could reliably expect at this point. She found she could stand, or at least crouch. Using her gem, she manage to light up the area to at least see where she was going. Her movements were slower due to the water, but it was something she could endure.

Jasper found that she was in a huge fissure in the crust of the planet, filled with seawater. She couldn't see the surface from the bottom of the fissure, but one end of it was nearby. She chose to go in that direction.

Other than as Malachite, Jasper hadn't seen much of the sea of the earth that she could remember. All of the battles she fought were on land, where she had an advantage. That was a cruel reminder of when she did not, of when a Lapis Lazuli decieved her. If the ocean hadn't provided enough of a bitter reminder, that thought did the trick. Jasper wanted to get out of her former prison, and thankfully was no longer restrained by any chains. She quickened her pace and began to swim upwards. She could see the small planetoid humans called the moon, the only light in the sky when she surfaced. It was night time.

Treading water, Jasper looked around for land. The only land nearby was the same island she was defeated at. She didn't want to return there, but figured she did not have much of a choice. She could tell there was another land mass, some distance west, but it was too far to reach at that point. Jasper knew she needed to rest. She'd figure out what to do next after that.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - A Good Reason to Wonder

Steven was exhausted once he had returned from the Big Donut. He had spent the entire night floating and falling, and hadn't had any sleep since he had returned home. He almost fell asleep giving Pearl a hug. Amethyst had told him that Pearl would have liked a hug once he had returned from the Big Donut. He didn't know why specifically, but he didn't care either. Hugs were always a great thing to give.

The Gems understood Steven's exhaustion. Even Gems could get tired, so Garnet had told him to get some rest and that he would need it.

He never quite caught on to what Garnet had actually meant by him needing rest. Only three hours of rest later, however, he was loudly awakened by the frantic yellings of a certain small and green gem.

"STEVEN! AMETHYST! GARNET! PEARL! ANYONE!"

"STEVEN!"

Peridot had apparently been trying to wake him up for a few minutes once she finally had succeeded. Steven didn't appreciate it, but knew Peridot had no idea that he hadn't gotten much rest.

"Peridot… I'm trying to sleep…" Steven said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Okay but this is really important and I need to know if-"

"Peridot! Let Steven rest!"

 _Thank you, Garnet!_ Steven thought, lying back down and closing his eyes. He hadn't wanted to not help Peridot, but at the same time he did really need to sleep.

"But it's really important!" Steven could easily hear Peridot protesting, so he covered his ears with the pillow. "Do we have a _backup plan_ in case those Rubies come back? If they figure out we lied to them, then-"

"They won't come back," Garnet said. "If they do, we can say that she probably went somewhere else. There is no way for us to know her location given we aren't tracking her, so the Rubies will leave us alone."

"Oh." Peridot replied, "That's actually very logical… um, sorry for the intrusion…"

Steven knew Peridot had a tendency to freak out when she discovered a potential flaw in something. She would usually jump to the worst case scenario and freak out about it. Unfortunately, her logic based process of thinking failed to prevent that. Though, she had a valid question, and it made Steven realize that Jasper might still be out there.

He figured he shouldn't worry about it, and went back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Blind and Weak

Jasper had figured the organic striped creatures did not view her favorably, and did her best to stay out of their sight. It wasn't easy. The island was not big, and it was almost completely inhabited by them. It was hard for Jasper to find a place to hide and rest.

Originally, she had simply collapsed on the beach until morning came. She woke up and saw that she was surrounded by the same creatures that had ruined her only chance of defeating the Crystal Gems. It wasn't hard to get away from them, though Jasper hated running from a fight. In any other situation she would have beat those pesky creatures into the ground, but that would be too reckless even for her in the current situation. As of now, she was hiding in a cave, trying to figure out what to do next.

Jasper figured she would have to try to get back to homeworld first, but realized that by now Yellow Diamond would have declared her mission a failure. Yellow Diamond was the least lenient of the Diamonds, especially towards failure. If Yellow Diamond saw Jasper's mission as a failure, then it was Jasper's responsibility and she would face all consequences. Even past that, Jasper did not want to face her superior with now two failures on her back and an unauthorized change of the mission, so Homeworld was no longer a safe option.

Jasper knew her options were limited, and the organic creatures were on alert and hunting her down. However, no matter what decision she made, Jasper knew she had to get off the island.

Lurking as best she could as a Quartz, Jasper looked around for a warp pad. She knew there had to be one around, and eventually, she found it. At least, what was left of it. The warp pad was completely destroyed.

 _Fantastic._ Jasper thought sarcastically, but then became more speculative. _Was there an earthquake? It doesn't look like it was destroyed deliberately… Back before I got defeated there were a bunch of earthquakes happening, anyways. What a pain._

The warp pad was out. Jasper would have to figure something else out, and fast. She was getting impatient with herself and her horrible luck. She liked to have control of her situation, but that control kept being stripped away from her.

Jasper lurked around the island again, and could find no other means of getting off the island. She figured there was only one place and one way to go. She would have to go across the water to the landmass she could now notice better since it was daytime. Swimming that distance, while possible, would take too long and wear her out easily.

Jasper decided to rest near a small pool of water, well hidden from the outside. It would buy her enough time to rest and figure out an alternative to swimming, but this planning bored her when she couldn't come up with any viable solutions. Trying to find anything that was more interesting around her, her attention was caught on the pool of water. A large twig from one of the trees had fallen into the pool, but was floating on top of the water.

That was it. She could build a vessel that would be able to carry her across the water. She figured it wouldn't be hard so long as she could get something that could cut limbs off of trees. Using vines to tie the limbs into a rectangle, she could easily build the base of a raft. She just had to find something to cut the limbs and vines with.

It took a few seconds before Jasper located part of a large geode outside of her hiding place. If she could break off a crystal and sharpen it, she could use it to cut things with. Lucky for her, the crystals in the geode were made of the same stuff that Quartz Gems like herself were made of.

So she got to work, cutting and retrieving tree limbs and vines and gathering them all on the beach, all while avoiding the strange organic creatures. It was getting dark, so it was easier to avoid them. Eventually they all would be sleeping and not concerned with Jasper.

Only after Jasper had tied together the full base of the raft did she realize she needed something to steer it with. She needed a sail. That didn't take much thinking, either. Some of the trees had massive leaves, some almost as big as she was. That would work as a sail, so long as Jasper could make sure it wasn't flimsy.

It was a few hours past sunset when Jasper decided she had finished the raft. Stabilizing the sail with half of one of the round organic objects that came from the same trees as the huge leaves, she could now turn the sail and thus steer the raft. She started to push the raft into the water, and got on once it was floating. The wind was light but just enough to start sailing towards the landmass to the west. Jasper figured this was going to be faster than swiming at the least.

"Finally." Jasper thought aloud. Now that she was alone on the open sea, she could speak as much as she wanted. She didn't need to say much, but had a need to express the relief to her impatience and frustration slipping away.

Just because it was faster than swimming, however, did not mean it wouldn't take a while. Well over half the day had passed, and the days were getting short in this location, and Jasper was still sailing. She could better see the land mass, and almost see constructs that looked to be built by humans.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, and Jasper had to shift the sail in order to maintain direction. Something was wrong.

 _FLASH!_

 _BOOM!_

The light almost blinded her, and the loud noise almost made her deaf. Water was falling from the sky. Jasper had experienced this percipitation before, but the sounds only told her one thing.

A battle was being fought, and she wasn't safe.

The sounds came more and more often, as did the flashes of what Jasper knew was gem weaponry. But she couldn't see anyone else. She couldn't see who or what was attacking, and that was a grave disadvantage. The sounds were getting louder and closer, so Jasper knew that whoever was fighting was close. Even then, she couldn't see anyone, or anything. The wind was going wild and she had forgotten completely about the sail. She saw a battle being fought by an enemy she couldn't see.

Jasper summoned her helmet from pure adrenaline. It wasn't the same. She wasn't set on an action. She wasn't ready for this type of battle. This rush that she needed to summon her weapon in the first place wasn't out of the thirst for battle. It was out of _fear_.

A huge flash of light returned and hit Jasper's raft. Jasper could feel the impact of some type of electric beam weapon, and her raft was shattered, throwing her from whatever remained. She fell into the water and under, but resurfaced and looked around for something to hold on to. Jasper wasn't interested in a battle. At this point, she just wanted to survive.

 _This isn't right…_ Jasper thought, _This can't be happening… who would be fighting?!_

Jasper shut her eyes. This was it. The last time her luck would run out. The last time her luck had the chance.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Stormy Weather

"What is that obnoxious sound…"

Peridot, even after Steven had taught her that rain and thunderstorms were not going to hurt her or destroy the earth, still didn't like them. Thunder and lightning scared her just out of sheer surprise. This storm was loud enough to wake Lapis Lazuli up from her side of the barn. Peridot didn't know if Lapis knew what a thunderstorm was.

"Um, it's thunder." Peridot answered from the box she was hiding in. She really still didn't like thunderstorms. "The result of lightning being created from the high amount of opposing charge in the clouds that consist of the s-s-storm and the atmosphere below the c-cl-clouds…"

"Oh, okay." Lapis replied in a monotone that had become her permanent voice. "I'm going back to sleep."

"You've been sleeping all day!" Peridot replied. In truth, she didn't want to be alone in dealing with the thunderstorm, but she would never admit that, especially to Lazuli. Their relationship, while improving, was still strained by the past.

"Yup," Lapis replied, "G'night."

And with that, Lapis went back to sleep. Peridot would never understand how Lapis could sleep through literally everything, nevermind how she could sleep so much. It was almost like it was a hobby to her.

 _BOOM!_

"Gu-AH!" Peridot jumped from her position, knocking the box off her in fear. She scampered to another hiding place, terrified. "Are you s-s-s-seriously going to just leave me to be terrified until this ends?"

No answer. Lapis was already asleep.

Peridot sighed, on high alert due to the thunderstorm. She needed to find something to calm her down, so she ran up to the attic to binge watch Camp Pining Hearts for the fifty-fourth time. She would never disclose that fact to anyone, except maybe Steven if he asked. He already knew she was CPH trash so there wasn't anything to hide about the show from him.

Settling down, Peridot focused on the show and somehow was able to forget about the thunderstorm.

Back downstairs, Lapis was asleep, as usual. She liked sleep because it was peaceful. It was something she (and no one else) could choose to do, and making her own choices herself was very important to her.

This sleep was not peaceful as she had come to expect.

Lapis didn't have a ton of experience with dreams, though the ones she had so far were decent. She had never had a nightmare before. At least, not until now.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Dangerous Waters

Steven shivered. He had originally been having a dream typical of his dreaming scheme. Random, not making too much sense, and including Dogcopter. And then, it had changed to something different. A thunderstorm was occuring and he was out in the middle of what looked like the Delmarva Bay. He was swimming in the water, but it was difficult to fight against the harsh currents caused by the storm. He felt like he was going to drown.

"Steven!"

Steven saw something flying towards him. It was- no, she was blue, and he realized it was Lapis. He raised his arms and she grabbed him, lifting him out of the water and looking for the nearest landmass or rock to stay on.

"Lapis, what's going on?" Steven asked, "At first everything was a normal dream and now everything is so real and-"

"This is a dream," Lapis said. "I was asleep, too."

"This is… just like the time when I talked to you while you were in Malachite!" Steven realized, "But… why…"

Lapis managed to find a few rocks jutting out of the water that were large and flat enough to rest on. She landed and her and Steven both almost collapsed.

"Hehe… It's weird… to be tired… in a dream…" Steven said, trying to add some humor to this not so light situation.

 _FLASH!_

 _BOOM!_

A huge bolt of lightning hit the surface of the sea in the distance. It surprised both Steven and Lapis, who hadn't expected that. Steven knew that lightning almost never struck the sea, especially the open sea, so it was strange.

Lapis and Steven stayed on the rock until the storm seemed to pass. Neither of them knew why they were still stuck inside the dream. Suddenly, they saw what looked to be driftwood wash up towards them. It was easy to see that this was part of some type of vessel. That wasn't what mattered. Holding onto one of the larger fragments of what used to be a raft was someone Steven hadn't expected to see and Lapis hadn't wanted to see ever again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Premonition

Steven gasped, jolting up from his sleep. It was morning again, and he needed to go to the barn to talk to Lapis. He had seen real things in his dreams before, and Lapis knew that, too. If this dream was like that, and if Lapis was also in his dream just like before, then they had just found Jasper.

He needed to talk to her.

Steven jumped out of bed and rushed through his morning routine, barely having any breakfast at all. So fast, in fact, that he didn't notice Garnet and Amethyst enter the house from their rooms in the temple respectively until Garnet spoke.

"Morning Steven," Garnet said as she and Amethyst both sat at counter in the kitchen part of the house.

"Why in such a rush, dude?" Amethyst asked, "Isn't breakfast like… your favorite meal?"

"I can't really explain right now, but I gotta talk to Lapis," Steven said as he poured out cereal into a smaller than usual bowl.

Amethyst looked to Garnet, and didn't need to ask her before Garnet spoke up.

"There's no need to rush," Garnet said, "Breakfast is important. You should have a good meal to start the day."

Suddenly, the three heard the zing of the warp pad and looked over to see Lapis Lazuli and Peridot standing on it. Garnet must have known that was about to happen.

"Steven!" Lapis said, running over. Peridot watched, visibly confused about why Lapis had forced her to show her how to warp to the temple.

" _Wap-us!_ " Steven said through a mouthful of cereal. He swallowed that as soon as he could and asked her the question he was rushing to ask. "Lapis! Did you-"

"Yes," Lapis said, already knowing what Steven was talking about, "We have to keep her away from here. She's got to have some kind of grudge against both of us for what happened."

Steven heard Pearl enter the beach house from her room. Now everyone was present.

"What's going on? Why are Lapis and Peridot here?" Pearl asked, looking around, and then muttering something about the volume of the conversation.

"Okay," Steven said, "Just… let me finish my breakfast."

After Steven had finished his breakfast, he began to explain, "You know how back when we were looking for Malachite, back when we had that slumber party, I had a dream that Lapis was in, and we talked?"

All the gems spare Peridot nodded.

"Wait, what?" Peridot asked, "Dreams? I don't understand the logistics of this-"

"No time to explain logistics," Garnet said, interrupting Peridot, "Steven, continue."

"So, I had another dream, and Lapis was there, and I was in the middle of the ocean somewhere close to the beach and then… we saw Jasper!"

"What?!" Amethyst and Pearl asked. Garnet stayed silent, looking as if she was deep in thought.

"So wait, Jasper is still out there, on this planet?" Peridot started to sound worried, "Oh gosh, so eventually those Rubies are going to come back and-"

"We've already discussed that," Garnet said. "Lapis is right. If Jasper is still out there, she's got to be holding a grudge against us. The best thing we can do now is for us to all stick together. Jasper could take most of us out one by one, but not if we all stick together."

"But shouldn't we figure out where she is?" Pearl asked, "Knowing that a gem like Jasper could attack at any moment isn't the kind of thing I'd be able to stand for too long."

"I'm with P on this one," Amethyst agreed.

"But if we did look for her, I'm not even sure where we'd start!" Steven said, "We were on a rock off the coast, so Jasper could be anywhere around there."

"That's a lot of ground to cover," Peridot added, trying to contribute.

"And that's why we can't look for her, at least not yet," Garnet said. "For now, all of us should stay in the temple. There's no telling where or when she could show up."

"Hey, can't you use your future vision to see when and where Jasper'll show up?" Steven asked, looking up at Garnet.

"It's more complicated than that, Steven," Garnet answered, "All I know is that Jasper will show up."

Garnet seemed terribly sure of herself. Steven didn't know what to expect, and Garnet didn't seem to, either. Garnet always tried to keep calm in situations where something could happen at any moment, but she was worried. Pearl seemed worried too, and Amethyst was concerned in her own, relaxed way. Peridot was obviously paranoid. The little green gem never could really hide her emotions. Lapis, however, did not seem concerned so much as tense in anger. Her hands had balled into fists and she was trying to stop herself from shaking.

Steven had a bad feeling about this.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Broken

Jasper woke up, feeling water run over her, but not in the same way as it had trapped her under the sea. It was moving forward and back, mostly around and under her. She sat up and looked around. She was underneath some type of wooden structure, and could hear footsteps and voices above it, as well as odd music. She waded over to the side and looked up to see several interesting but stupid looking machines and several small humans with their larger counterparts running around, some occupying said machines. Jasper was confused, but did not want to be seen by the humans, so she went back under the wooden platform.

Jasper needed to figure out what to do next. At this point, her only objective was her own survival. Even if she could return to homeworld, she would never survive facing Yellow Diamond with her failures on her back. She could only look out for herself now, which to her, was oddly saddening. To Jasper, looking out for herself was just a typical, everyday thing. There wasn't much meaning to it.

She had no purpose anymore.

Once Jasper had realized that, it hit her like a truck. She had no use, no purpose, no importance. Yellow Diamond would have her shattered for her failures. Shattered and _replaced_. Just like her fallen comrades from the war were. She didn't mean anything more to anyone than any other Jasper did. She never had, regardless of her veteran status. Her personal experiences meant nothing to anyone besides herself. She was made to fight for Yellow Diamond, and had failed. She was useless. She was built to win battles, and she had lost every one since setting foot on this planet. Not only could she be called useless, but she could be called defective. A defective Jasper. No better than even the Crystal Gems she had fought against. She meant nothing, just like the Jaspers that had been lost in the war.

Jasper found her hands now balled into fists. She was angry about how individuality meant nothing. She was angry that her only purpose was to do one thing; fight, and nothing else. She was angry that if she failed that, it would be her end. She was angry that Yellow Diamond would see her as defective and have her shattered and replaced. Angry that Yellow Diamond saw her and the gems she fought alongside in the war as expendable. Angry that Yellow Diamond would see her as useless.

Angry that Yellow Diamond was right.

The mission should have been easy. Eliminate those getting in the way of Peridot checking on the Cluster, have Peridot check on the progress of the Cluster, and then return to Homeworld. It should have been simple. Yellow Diamond said it was a simple mission. It was Peridot's first mission, so it was built for a newbie. And Jasper had failed that simple mission.

 _Pathetic._ Jasper found a voice in her head saying. _You were so proud of yourself. You fought in the first war on this gem forsaken planet. You thought you were a successful soldier. And look at you now. You're dull! If you can't even fufill what you were created for, what CAN you do?_

 _It can't be that simple…_ Jasper found another voice in her head saying, _Any other Jasper would have failed, right?_

 _But you've FOUGHT against these gems before! You defeated countless amounts of them, and now you can't even deal with four of them!_

 _I survived the war! I must have had more skill than the others in order to do that. This is all just a freak accident-_

 _What a stupid excuse. You had one job: to escort Peridot to check on the cluster. And you had failed even that! No wonder Yellow Diamond hadn't sent you on any missions since the war. And it was no freak accident. You were the one who captured and brought all those gems on the ship, and that's the reason you're stuck on this stupid planet in the first place!_

Jasper had no defense to this.

 _You survived based on being stronger than the other gems. Yeah right. You were lucky. Just like any other Jasper, you would have been defeated and shattered if you hadn't been so lucky. And now it's come full circle. They took their last breath on this planet, and so will you. You were never better than any of them to begin with, so stop fooling yourself!_

Jasper knew that she had prioritized power simply because that allowed her to survive during the war. It wasn't something she could rely on now. Looking back on all the battles, she _had_ been lucky. She couldn't have been special, especially now when all it took to defeat her were a few defective gems. The first defeat couldn't even be called a coincedence, because the second defeat was the same gems defeating her even when Jasper had the powers of a gem like Lapis Lazuli. Even when Malachite had the advantage of fighting in the water, she had lost.

 _Pathetic. You lived and yet all of those other Jaspers in the war were shattered?_

Jasper wanted to scream. She normally would react to these insults by beating whoever said them to her to a pulp. But she couldn't. Those insults were from herself, and worst of all, they were right.

 _What am I even fighting for anymore..._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Real Talk

Nighttime had fallen, and only now did Steven start to figure that he wasn't going to get any sleep. Lapis had dealt with sleeping perfectly fine, even in such a paranoid situation. Peridot was the opposite of this.

"At least someone has to stay up and make sure no one attacks!" Peridot said, "And if it's me… I don't want to do that by myself!"

Peridot wasn't the strongest gem. She wasn't going to hide that fact.

"We'll all take turns," Garnet said, "I'll stay awake first and stay on the lookout for Jasper. Amethyst, you'll be on lookout after me. After Amethyst, Pearl, you're on lookout. After Pearl, Steven. We'll switch every three hours."

Steven did the math. It was just around 8:00 at night, so that meant that he would be on lookout starting at 5:00 in the morning. It was much earlier than he usually woke up, but it was something he could cope with.

After sleeping for a while, Steven found himself awake during the end of Amethyst's shift. Pearl was yelling at Amethyst, as Amethyst had played a prank on her and drawn all over Pearl's face with a marker. Garnet had not been awoken by this commotion.

Steven got up to try to stop the conflict between Amethyst and Pearl, but then noticed that Lapis was not where she had been before he fell asleep. He looked around and saw the front door close. He decided to invesitage, and managed to sneak out while Amethyst, Pearl, and Peridot were distracted by Amethyst's prank and the aftermath of it.

Steven walked down the stairs, still in his banana pajamas, and couldn't find Lapis anywhere, though he did spot footsteps in the sand leading to one of the sides of the temple. Steven followed them and found Lapis sitting on top of one of the old wooden poles that used to hold up the old docks that were destroyed a long time ago.

"Lapis?" Steven asked, and Lapis looked over at him, surprised.

"Steven? Aren't you supposed to be… asleep?" Lapis said, jumping off the post and turning to him.

"Aren't… _you_ supposed to be asleep?" Steven replied in a somewhat humorous tone, and Lapis smiled. "But really, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm just… worried, I guess," Lapis replied, "...Y'know, about the whole Jasper thing."

Steven noticed Lapis's hands were balled into fists again, "...Just worried?"

"And also angry," Lapis admitted, "I spent… an abysmal amount of time stuck in that horrible fusion with her… just because I didn't want her to be a threat to you. But yet, she's still a threat!"

Steven frowned. Lapis still seemed to have his protection as her first priority, when she really didn't need to. He didn't want to say anything about it, since Lapis was very sensitive about her choices. He knew that she would have to understand on her own.

"I don't think she's… as much of a threat as before, I guess," Steven said, "...Garnet's defeated her before, and you're really strong. With all of us together, if Jasper attacks, I don't think she'd be too threatening."

"...I suppose that's true," Lapis said, "...But it's hard when it feels so…"

"So…" Steven said, waiting for Lapis to continue.

"...Personal," Lapis finished her sentence, "I feel like her grudge would be more with me than with you. I feel like it's something I should have to deal with."

"But you're one of us now!" Steven said, "You don't have to face Jasper alone if that happens."

"But what if you get hurt?" Lapis said, starting to sound a little emotional, "It would be all my fault, and I just… I don't want that to happen."

Lapis sat down on the sand, looking sad. Steven joined her. He wasn't sure what to say in this situation.

"...I was going to look for her," Lapis said after a long period of silence, "But I guess you wouldn't want me to do that."

"At least not alone!" Steven said, "It would've been really dangerous for you."

"Psh, I guess," Lapis said with a smile, "But you're right. Jasper wouldn't be much of a threat at all now, would she?"

"Yeah," Steven said, "We'd better get back, though. Pearl will freak out when she sees I'm gone."

"Or Peridot," Lapis said, "Or both, for that matter. Yeah, let's go back."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - A Break

After several days of being on the lookout for Jasper, Garnet decided to let Steven hang out with Connie on the weekend. It was a big relief for him, since he hadn't really hung out with Connie since his birthday. Steven didn't really have a plan for what they were going to do, he just missed hanging out with and talking to her. Pearl also wanted to check up on if Connie had continued to practice swordfighting, which Steven knew Connie definitely had.

Connie got to the temple just before lunchtime. Steven was playing video games to pass the time when Connie knocked on the door.

"Connie!" Steven said, dropping his game to go open the door for her, "It's been forever!"

"It's felt like forever!" Connie replied, giving Steven a hug. After releasing said hug, she asked, "Did Peridot get settled in the barn?"

"Nope!"

Connie looked over to see Peridot on the couch, reading through some spreadsheets she made. Steven didn't need to see them to know what they were on.

"Well, actually," Peridot began to correct herself, "Lazuli and I did, but then… things came up, I suppose. It's nice to meet you, by the way."

"Nice to meet you… too…" Connie said, a little weirded out.

Peridot resumed looking at her CPH shipping charts, and Connie and Steven went over to the counter in the kitchen part of Steven's house to get some sandwiches for lunch. While they were having lunch, Steven explained that Peridot and Lapis Lazuli were staying at the temple because Jasper could be around.

"That'd make me super anxious for sure," Connie said once Steven had finished explaining, "But it isn't anything you guys can't handle, right?"

"Of course!" Steven said, "We've defeated Jasper before, so we could do it again."

"That's reassuring," Connie said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad I could come over today. I'm surprised Garnet still let you hang out with me!"

"I mean, as long as we're careful if we go outside the temple, she said it'd be fine," Steven said.

"So what's the plan?" Connie asked.

"I was thinking we could go to Funland, but I think I got banned from the rides…"

"Right, I remember you telling me about that a while ago," Connie said, "We could just walk along the beach. I'm sure you've got lots of stories to share."

Steven nodded. Connie always liked to hear about his adventures with the gems, and lots of things had happened at the Barn. They decided to do just that.

"So let me get this straight… Peridot called one of the rulers of homeworld a 'clod'?"

"Yup," Steven said, "And ever since, she's officially been one of us!"

Connie started to laugh, "I can't believe she'd do that."

"She couldn't either," Steven said with a grin. The two were walking on the left side of the temple, down the beach towards the wooden platform that Funland was on.

"And then… Lapis Lazuli was the gem who took the ocean, right?" Connie asked, shivering at the memory a little, "She still sort of terrifies me."

"She isn't that bad, now that she's settled in," Steven said, "She's a lot more willing to talk about things rather than do things on her own."

"That's good," Connie said. "It must be hard, though. Y'know, adjusting to a new planet, a new home, all of a sudden like this."

"Peridot said something like that to me when we were dealing with the Cluster," Steven said, "Somehow I bubbled it, so the problem is solved, but we had to wait two whole hours in that cramped drill to get there in the first place!"

"Sounds like a claustrophobic nightmare," Connie said with a smile.

"Yeah. It was!" Steven said, "But I asked her about homeworld and her memories about it. She doesn't really have memories of it… more like feelings. She said it was hard to not have feelings for the place you came from."

"I can understand that… it must be hard." Connie replied, "She's really changed, hasn't she?"

"Yeah. She has." Steven said, "Though, I think she's getting happier about being on earth."

"That's great! Earth isn't that bad once you get to know it," Connie said. "So, did anything else happen at the barn?"

"That's pretty much it… though after we got back from the barn, I discovered that I have weird floating powers!" Steven said, "It's like… I can control how fast I fall."

"Wow, that's really cool!" Connie said, "Can you show me?"

"I would, but I got stuck slowly falling for the entire night I got back, so…"

"Not a great idea, huh," Connie said, "That's all right. I can understand that."

"Yeah. I'm still figuring out how to control it…" Steven's voice trailed off as he saw something he hadn't expected.

"Steven?" Connie asked, "What's up?"

"Over there, under Funland…" Steven said, "Is that…"

Connie looked over in the direction Steven was indicating, "Another gem?!" Connie started to get somewhat paranoid, "Shouldn't we go get the others?"

"Wait," Steven said, "I don't think… I don't think she's going to hurt us."

"What? How do you know?" Connie asked.

"I don't know…" Steven said, "I just… do? Hold on."

"Steven, wait! Don't just… wait!"

Connie ran after Steven as he ran over to the wooden platform that held up Funland.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Nightmare

"Hey, wake up."

"Hey."

"Wake up."

"I said, wake up!"

Jasper felt a jab to her side and jolted awake. Someone had kicked her in order to wake up, and what she woke up to was a surprise.

She was back on homeworld, but not in a good way.

Looking around, Jasper realized she was in a cell. From that, she figured, Homeworld had probably found her and brought her back when she had taken a nap. How they did it was something Jasper couldn't figure out. She didn't have the time to, anyways.

"Get up," said another quartz gem from outside of the cell. The gem was an Aventurine Quartz, given away by the green color. "Yellow Diamond has decided your punishment."

 _Right,_ Jasper thought, standing up on her own, _I failed the mission. Right._

Joined by another Aventurine Quartz, the two brought Jasper to the Yellow Diamond Control Room. This was where Yellow Diamond tracked the progress of the projects within her authority. When they entered, Yellow Diamond was busy. She didn't seem overly concerned about Jasper's entrance.

"My Diamond," one of the two Aventurines said, "We have brought the Jasper who led the Earth mission, as you requested."

"Right," Yellow Diamond said. She hadn't turned to look at them yet, and only did after she spoke, "Does the Jasper care to inform me of why the mission failed?"

Jasper realized she had to be careful here. If she told the truth, the punishment would be severe. If she lied, the punishment could be minimal if Yellow Diamond didn't detect that she was lying. Jasper knew better than to lie. She knew she wouldn't be able to trick a Diamond.

"We found the gems who were interrupting Peridot's check-in on the Cluster," Jasper answered.

"There are still Gems on Earth?" Yellow Diamond asked, "And how did you respond to this?"

"I told Peridot to blast them with the ship. There were only three and a human, so that should have taken care of it…"

"But it did not?" Yellow Diamond asked in her constant indimidating monotone, and Jasper nodded. "Why?"

"The human…" Jasper needed to figure out how to explain what that human really was, "It had the power of Rose Quartz. I'm not sure how or why-"

"A human?" Yellow Diamond asked, "With the power of a gem like Rose Quartz? What blasphemy are you spewing?"

"None!" Jasper answered, "This is exactly what happened! Peridot fired the beam cannon and the human jumped in with Rose Quartz's shield! She must have taken on that form for some reason-"

"I would think a gem of your type would know better than to make up baseless and foolish lies to cover up for their own mistakes. A Gem taking on such a weak form would be stupid. Maybe even impossible," Yellow Diamond said, "I will give you one more chance to tell the truth. What actually happened to make such a simple mission fail?"

"I'm telling the truth… I swear…" Jasper said, "This is exactly what happened…"

Yellow Diamond sighed, "This Jasper has gone defective… You two, make her retreat back into her gem. I don't need a defective gem on my hands."

"No, wait!" Jasper said, "I swear, I'm-"

The intentionally powerful punch of one of the Adventurines made it impossible for Jasper to finish her sentence, and forced her to retreat to her gem for what she knew was the last time. Everything was dark. This was the end.

And then she woke up.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - The Good Enemy

"GAH."

Jasper jolted awake with fear. It was hard to focus on anything, but she soon realized the entire thing had been some sort of vision while she was resting. Jasper wasn't one for superstition, but she knew that what she saw only confirmed her fears. She could never go back to Homeworld.

She was back under the same wooden platform with the same annoying noises. She had never felt so relieved.

And then she realized she wasn't alone.

"Um, Jasper?"

Jasper looked over and saw the human. The same human who had the powers of Rose Quartz, along with another human that Jasper didn't recognize. She was startled and jumped backwards, "You… you… why are you…"

"Are you okay?"

Jasper paused. Rose Quartz, if Jasper could even call the human-looking gem that anymore, was _concerned._ Maybe even worried. Even after Jasper had injured and captured them. Even after she had been stuck in a miserable fusion with one of their probable allies, Lapis Lazuli. Even after she had defused and forced two of their allies back into their gems.

Nothing made sense anymore, and this only confirmed it.

"...Why…" Jasper said, "...Why didn't you attack me when you had the chance?"

"What?" the human looking Rose Quartz replied, "Why would I do that?"

"Because I'm a threat! Why are you just standing there?" Jasper asked angrily. "You had the tactical advantage! Why didn't you take it? You're Rose Quartz, aren't you?!"

The human looking Rose Quartz looked as if they had just realized something, "Oh! I'm not Rose Quartz, she was my mom. My name's Steven!"

Jasper wasn't sure what Rose Quartz was doing by calling themselves 'Steven'. She also didn't understand what the term "mom" meant. The only thing she could figure out was that this was not the same Rose Quartz she had fought against in the war.

Jasper stood up. She was nearly three times as tall as 'Steven', but that didn't seem to intimidate them. It did, however, intimidate the other human, and with good reason. Jasper knew she could easily defeat either of them.

But she decided not to. Rose Quartz, or whatever this 'Steven' was, had said they didn't want to fight. Jasper felt she needed to respect that. After all, only moments ago she had still been asleep and at the mercy of this 'Steven', yet they left her alone, maybe even waited for her to wake up. It didn't make sense to Jasper to attack now. Besides, Jasper knew, that if she attacked this 'Steven', she would only have to fight the entirety of the Crystal Gems again, and possibly also Lapis Lazuli. That wasn't a fight she could win.

"Hey, uh, Steven? Is it really okay to be… just… talking to her? She wasn't exactly the friendliest gem from what I've heard…" the other human said to 'Steven' in a quiet voice.

"I think it's fine. I just want to know if she's okay," 'Steven' replied to the human.

"This makes no sense," Jasper said, "You're saying… you were… worried about me?"

"You fell down a crack in Mask Island!" 'Steven' said, "None of us knew what had happened to you! Besides, we were supposed to save both of you, we were just a little… too late. I'm sorry about that."

"...And now you're apologizing? For what?!" Jasper asked incredulously. "Are you pitying me? Because I don't need your pity."

"So you're okay?" 'Steven' asked.

"Why do you keep asking that?!" Jasper sat back down and held her head in frustration, "You aren't supposed to be concerned about that. We're supposed to be enemies! We were… Rose Quartz was the gem I fought against! I fought against everything you Crystal Gems stood for! So why… why?!"

The humanoid gem and the human looked at each other.

"This reminds me of something back in school…" the human said, "there was a kid who got bullied a lot, but still acted nice to the bullies. They asked him why and he said it was because it was the right thing to do. The whole experience reminded me a lot of you, Steven. And I think it parallels nicely to this."

"Yeah!" 'Steven' said, "I guess it's because I think it's the right thing to do!" they turned to Jasper, "You fought against my mom in the war, but it's been a long time since then, right?"

"5,750-ish years," Jasper answered, "That's not too much of a long time…"

"For humans it sure is!" the human said, "My great grandma lived up to be 104, and that's a lot for a human."

"Whoa! That's amazing!" 'Steven' replied. "104 years… wow. I wonder how much change she got to see…"

"Change…" Jasper said, "You… why do you keep calling Rose Quartz your 'mom'?"

"Does she not know what 'mom' means?" the human asked, and 'Steven' shrugged.

"I guess not," 'Steven' said.

"Well… in humans, in order to create a human, you've got to have the DNA... the material that makes a life-form what it is, of two other humans, who are the parents," the human started to explain, "Steven got half his DNA from his mother, Rose Quartz, so he's half gem, half human."

Jasper looked dumbfounded. She wasn't sure how to understand, comprehend, or believe this. But she knew that it was something that Rose Quartz could probably do.

"... so you're her… 'child'," Jasper asked.

"Yup." 'Steven' replied.

"And you don't go by the name of your gem?"

"Nope. My name's Steven!"

Jasper shook her head, still trying to understand why Rose Quartz would create something that is half gem, half human. She wasn't even sure how something could be 'half gem'. And why would she create something that is half something as weak as a human?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud yell.

"STEVEN!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - A New Jasper

Steven and Connie looked over to see Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl running over. Steven figured they had seen Jasper. It wasn't like she was hard to notice.

"Get away from her! It isn't safe!" Garnet yelled.

"No, it's okay!" Steven said, standing up, "We've just been talking!"

"That's no reason to trust that she isn't going to hurt you!" Pearl yelled.

"Both of you, get over here!" Garnet ordered. Steven and Connie looked at each other, and then back at Jasper.

"Just go. It's fine." Jasper said, "It was going to happen, anyways."

Steven was confused by what Jasper said, but knew better than to disobey Garnet. He and Connie ran over to them.

Jasper didn't even bother to stand up. She looked apathetic. She hadn't even summoned her helmet to defend herself, and it made the three Crystal Gems hesitate.

"Hey, P," Amethyst whispered, "Why isn't she attacking? Isn't this Jasper? The same gem Garnet fought on the ship? The one that doesn't know when to quit?"

"I don't know," Pearl replied, "But she could at any moment, so just be ready."

Minutes passed, and Jasper finally spoke.

"So are you going to attack me, or what?" Jasper asked.

Pearl and Amethyst both looked at Garnet for an answer.

Garnet paused, "If we do, why won't you fight back?"

"Because there's no point," Jasper said. "I'm stuck on this planet and going back to Homeworld is a deathwish anyways. So just get over with it. I'm waiting."

 _Homeworld… a deathwish? What… happened to Jasper?_ Steven thought, _I knew it was weird that she didn't attack Connie and I in the first place… but isn't she supposed to be a super loyal soldier? What happened?_

Garnet still paused, but then de-summoned her weapons. "Gems, we're not going to fight a target that isn't going to hurt us."

"What?!" Pearl and Amethyst asked.

"But, this is Jasper we're talking about!" Pearl said, "She poofed you, she gave Steven a black eye, she almost destroyed all of us in that fight on Mask Island…"

"She doesn't want to fight," Garnet said, "I don't know her reasons, but for now, she's not a threat. Besides, Rose wouldn't want us to attack a gem that didn't want to hurt us."

Pearl and Amethyst were surprised, but they knew Garnet was right. They too de-summoned their weapons.

"But if she doesn't want to fight," Pearl said, "Then why is she in Beach City?"

"I literally washed up here." Jasper said.

Steven knew the Gems were being weirded out by this, and in honesty he was, too. The Jasper they had known and fought against would have attacked them again and again. Something had changed.

At this point, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were all discussing what to do. They all knew they couldn't just let Jasper stay under the Funland Platform to do whatever she wanted. But they weren't sure what to do with her otherwise.

And then Lapis and Peridot showed up.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - Total Confusion

Jasper noticed it was getting later in the afternoon, enough so that the annoying music from above had stopped. Jasper felt that was just about the only good thing that had happened so far.

And then _they_ showed up.

Jasper had figured that Lapis Lazuli had ended up allying with the gems, but was surprised to see Peridot with her. Jasper had figured that Lapis Lazuli wasn't terribly fond of Peridot after she interrogated her in the most objective emotionless way possible. It was standard procedure but it was pretty brutal even in Jasper's opinion.

And yet they didn't seem to dislike one another.

Once Peridot had made eye contact with Jasper, she froze and jumped back, basically falling down on her back. She no longer had her limb enhancers, so Jasper figured she still wans't used to walking without them. Lapis Lazuli soon saw her too, and to Jasper's surprise, her expression didn't change.

But her hands did ball into fists. And so did Jasper's.

As much as Jasper had fallen into apathy, she still was very angry at Lapis Lazuli for deceiving her. The blue gem was the only gem that Jasper had a reason to attack.

But she still didn't do it.

Jasper knew that Lapis was stronger than her. She hated to admit it, and verbally never would. But in a one-on-one fight, Jasper knew she would be wiped out. And if she attacked Lapis, it wouldn't even be one-on-one. The other gems would attack her. Jasper did hold a grudge against Lapis, but she wasn't stupid enough to take it out on her through physical violence. That would be pointless.

Besides, Jasper didn't feel motivated enough to attack, anyways. For the first time in a while, she had felt something, that something being anger, but it wasn't enough to get her to do something.

Lapis Lazuli and Peridot walked over to the other gems to learn more about the situation. Jasper figured she could really only sit there and wait for the verdict. At the same time, though, it was incredibly boring.

"Hey, Jasper?"

Jasper looked over. It was Steven, the Quartz Child. He had walked over to her with his friend whom Jasper soon learned was named Connie.

"Why didn't you attack the temple?" Steven asked.

Jasper found herself shrugging and openly admitting, "I wouldn't win."

Steven and Connie looked at each other, surprised.

"Listen, Quartz Child," Jasper said, finding herself more comfortable calling Steven 'Quartz Child' if only to remind herself that he was not Rose Quartz, "I've been defeated by your group twice now, and I know I can't defeat Lapis Lazuli. That's enough to know that trying to fight against your group is pointless. I'll only lose."

"Then… what are you going to do now?" Connie asked.

"I've been lying in this spot for a few days," Jasper said, "I guess I'll keep doing that. There isn't anything else to do, anyways."

"But there's tons of stuff to do!" Steven protested, and Jasper looked at him.

"...Like what?" Jasper wasn't sure why she was asking this, but did anyways. It was something to do, after all, and Jasper knew it was better than nothing.

"Well, there's the amusement part on the boardwalk above you, though it's closed now…" Steven began, "There's the arcade, the Big Donut, the entire boardwalk, the park, the beach… all sorts of stuff!"

"I don't know what any of those are." Jasper said. This only seemed to make Steven more excited.

"Connie and I can show you what they are! Though I guess it's a little late for a lot of things. Have you ever had food before?"

"Food? No." Jasper said, "I'm a gem. I don't need to eat."

"I know but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy eating! Sometimes Garnet eats and Amethyst eats all the time." Steven said, "I bet I could get Amethyst to tell you about it."

Jasper stared at Steven and Connie. They were already making plans for tomorrow. Jasper figured she didn't have much of a choice.

"...Don't think this means I'm allying with you or your group," Jasper said, realizing she should state this out loud before anyone felt like she was.

"That's fine," Steven said, "You don't have to stick with us if you don't want to. I just thought we'd show you around Beach City!"

Jasper stared at Steven. She had never been so confused in her life.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - Reunion

The Crystal Gems had decided that Jasper could not remain under the amusement park's platform, and ended up staying under another wooden platform. These, however, were steps. Steps leading to the wooden structure that Steven called 'home', which was located right in front of the temple that served as the base of the Crystal Gems. And someone always had to be watching her for safety precautions. Jasper wasn't surprised, except for the fact that they were letting her stay so close to their base. It made no sense.

But nothing made any sense anymore.

The first gem that was assigned to watch Jasper for a couple hours was Peridot. This surprised Jasper, since it meant the Crystal Gems trusted Peridot that much. For the first hour, they were both completely silent. Eventually, Peridot spoke up.

"You've gotten a lot less talkative," Peridot said, "It's weird."

"If you were me, you'd understand," Jasper answered, "It's not an objective thing."

"Then what is it?" Peridot asked, "What's made you so… not you?"

"Well," Jasper said, "You've changed, too. What caused that?"

"Exposure to human culture and the tolerance and acceptance the others have provided," Peridot said, "It's actually quite nice here once you settle in."

"So what made you decide to stay here?" Jasper asked, "Out of the two of us, you would have the best chance of getting back to Homeworld."

"Not being able to find a way, really," Peridot answered, "I knew I wasn't getting off the planet, so I allied myself with the Crystal Gems in order to stop the Cluster."

"You decided… to stop the Cluster from emerging?" Jasper asked.

"Of course," Peridot replied, "If the Cluster emerged, we'd all be shattered and destroyed."

"So did you do it?"

"Steven and I did. He bubbled it."

"...How do you bubble something that big?"

"I don't know, either," Peridot said, "But he's pretty incredible."

"So you're… friends with them. Is that why you don't want to go back?"

"Well, yes. That and I… called...a…"

Jasper couldn't hear the second half of Peridot's statement, "What?"

"I called Yellow Diamond a clod," Peridot said, "Right to her face."

Jasper paused. Peridot was probably in deeper water than she was with Homeworld's punishments. Though she soon realized that Peridot's actions would have only made Jasper's punishment worse, given she was responsible for the actions of those in the mission.

"Wow." Jasper said.

"I know."

Peridot then returned to her old question, "So what changed for you? Why haven't you tried to get back to Homeworld?"

"I couldn't go back. I'd get shattered." Jasper said, "I was the leader of the mission, and I'm responsible for the failure. Yellow Diamond would never believe what happened, anyways."

"I always thought you'd stay… well, you, even in the face of being shattered," Peridot remarked.

"Well, you were wrong, Peridot," Jasper said, "I have fears too. No one wants to get shattered. And all I have left is that fear, anyways. I can't even do what I was created for."

"Neither can I, apparently," Peridot said. "I suppose we're similar in that respect."

"I guess." Jasper said.

Eventually, it was time for Peridot to leave and for another gem to watch Jasper. As the small green gem left, she looked back at Jasper and said something,

"You know, you're somewhat tolerable when you're being honest. That's a sincere compliment."

Jasper found that she almost smiled, and it was very strange for her.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - Potato Chips

After Peridot had left, it was the overcooked runt of an Amethyst's turn to watch Jasper. She wasn't what Jasper had expected. At all.

Amethyst plopped down only a few meters away from Jasper with a bag of something that she was eating. Jasper remembered that Steven had said that Amethyst liked to eat.

After a few minutes, Amethyst pointed the opened side of the bag at Jasper, and with a mouthful of whatever she was eating, she asked, "Want some?"

Jasper paused, "...No thanks."

"Aw, c'mon. They're good!" Amethyst protested, "Ever eaten potato chips before?"

"I've never eaten." Jasper said stoicly.

"Aw, dude, you're missing out!" Amethyst replied, "Just try a few."

"...Is this some kind of trick?" Jasper asked.

"Nah man, Trix are for kids. These are potato chips!" Amethyst said, grinning.

"...Okay," Jasper said, taking a few potato chips and eating them. She now understood what Steven meant by enjoying eating. It wasn't just to get energy, it was because food tasted good. The chips were salty but in a good way.

"Pretty good, right?" Amethyst asked, "They aren't my favorite though."

"How many kinds of food are there on Earth?" Jasper asked, genuinely curious.

"Dude I dunno," Amethyst said, "Probably more than there are people."

Jasper assumed that was a lot.

Amethyst pointed the opening of the potato chip bag at Jasper again, "Want s'more?"

Jasper nodded and took some potato chips. They soon had emptied the entire bag.

"Wow, you can actually keep up with me in eating," Amethyst said, "Nice."

"Is that actually impressive?" Jasper asked.

"Well, yeah. No one eats as much as me and as quickly. We finished that huge bag of chips in five minutes once you started taking some."

"Huh," Jasper said, "I'm guessing you can't go get more, right?"

"Well, I have to keep an eye on you," Amethyst said, "We could both go get more food but I'm guessing you're not too great at sneaking around."

"This is true," Jasper said, a little disappointed. She was surprised she enjoyed food that much.

"Ha, Steven and Connie are gonna show you around town, right?" Amethyst asked, and Jasper shrugged.

"Apparently," Jasper said.

"Yeah. That'll be fun for you. Trust me on that," Amethyst said.

"Y'know, maybe I will," Jasper said.

Soon, Amethyst's turn to keep an eye on Jasper was over.

"Hey, Jasp," Amethyst said, "You're actually okay. Good luck dealing with Pearl."

 _Dealing with Pearl?_ Jasper asked herself, _Like that'll be difficult._


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - Motivations

Jasper hadn't realized what Amethyst had meant by dealing with Pearl. It wasn't what Pearl would do while keeping an eye on her, it's what Pearl wouldn't do.

The first hour and a half was boring silence. Jasper almost wanted to take a nap, but didn't trust the Pearl enough to do so. Jasper knew who she was. This Pearl was the same infamous Pearl of the rebellion. She taught herself to do far more than what a normal Pearl should know. She wasn't to be underestimated.

Jasper had noticed that Pearl was incredibly anxious, flinching any time Jasper moved as if she was expecting an attack from Jasper at any moment. Jasper figured that at least one of the gems would be a bit anxious while watching her, but Pearl took that to the extreme.

"You're awfully anxious," Jasper remarked, breaking the silence, "for the third person who's had to watch me."

"What does that mean?" Pearl replied.

"I didn't attack Peridot or Amethyst. So why would I attack you?" Jasper asked.

"Because you think I'm an easy target," Pearl replied.

"Just because you're a Pearl?"

"Yes."

"You've got to be joking."

Pearl looked surprised. Jasper shook her head.

"I know who you are and how you contributed to the Rebellion. You took out a number of my fellow soldiers. You're not an ordinary Pearl. You can actually fight and stand a chance even against Quartz Warriors like me," Jasper said, "Besides, there's not much motivation for me to attack anyone anyways."

"...Was that… some kind of compliment?" Pearl asked, becoming very confused.

"If you want to take it that way, sure. I'm only stating facts."

Pearl looked embarrassed, but then shook her head and snapped out of it. "What do you think you're gaining from this?"

"This what?" Jasper asked.

"Conversation!" Pearl answered.

"I don't care, I'm just bored," Jasper said. "Don't think I'm the only one who would say that about you, though. All the veterans from the war who had to fight on the same battlefield as you know who you are and what you are, or at least were, capable of. I'm only saying that I'm not underestimating you just because you were made to be less than that. If I had back then, I would've been shattered."

Pearl didn't reply, and stayed silent. Jasper did, too, for a few minutes.

"Do you mind if I ask something?"

"Are you actually… being polite?" Pearl asked, surprised.

"You just might perceive it as a personal question." Jasper said.

"Sure, why not," Pearl said.

"What got you to join the Rebellion?"

Pearl paused for a while after Jasper had asked that question. Jasper was somewhat interested in the reasons and motivations Crystal Gems had for rebelling against Homeworld, though she didn't know why.

"...Because I wanted a better life," Pearl answered, "A life outside of my role in Homeworld."

"And Rose Quartz said you'd get that if you rebelled?" Jasper asked.

"She knew I would." Pearl replied, "I'm not sure if you would know how inspiring she was."

"I could guess," Jasper answered, "But you're right. I probably wouldn't know. Though I still view her with respect, if that helps."

"Then maybe you can understand, maybe even just a little." Pearl remarked.

Pearl's two hours of keeping an eye on Jasper had ended, and she left without saying anything else.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 - A Lesson Learned

"Jasper."

"Fusion."

"It's Garnet."

"Okay. Garnet."

It was Garnet's turn to keep an eye on Jasper. Jasper was still a little sore from being defeated by Garnet, but it wasn't anything too major at the moment. After all, Jasper had learned something from Garnet, and it was that fusion wasn't just a cheap trick and also that it was more complex than just a battle tactic. There had to be a reason this Garnet was always fused.

"I'm surprised you agreed to calling me that so early," Garnet said, "It took Peridot a while to get used to just the idea of me."

"I don't understand the idea of you," Jasper said, "But I do understand there's more to fusion than just fighting. That's why you're always fused: there's more to it than that."

"You think a lot more in depth than I thought you would," Garnet remarked, "I'd think you'd stay stubborn to your beliefs."

"Normally I would," Jasper remarked, "But when you're so horribly wrong about something and you know it, it's hard to do that."

"Do you know why you lost?" Garnet ask, hitting a sensitive topic right away and making Jasper flinch.

"Um," Jasper said, "That was sudden."

"You were going to ask about it eventually," Garnet replied, "I know. I can see it."

Only now did Jasper realize that Garnet had future vision. This explained a lot of how she acted.

"...Well, I don't. I'd only ask if I didn't know," Jasper said.

"You and Lapis Lazuli are really bad for each other."

"What does that mean?"

"Fusion isn't just a battle tactic. It's an experience you go through with another gem. You and Lapis Lazuli were only trying to hold the other down in order to control the fusion." Garnet answered, "That's why you lost. Because Malachite was dysfunctional and unstable."

"...It's a team effort, then," Jasper said, "Or something like that. You have to work together."

"Yes." Garnet said, "Though I suppose you'd understand that more than not."

"It wasn't like I didn't ask her to fuse," Jasper muttered, "She tricked me."

"She did," Garnet said, "And I'm not terribly happy with that, either."

"Have you been tricked before like that?" Jasper asked.

"...Sort of like that… I've been tricked into fusing with a gem before," Garnet said, "And it isn't pleasant once you know the other gem's been tricking you. Especially in something as personal as fusion."

"As personal as fusion…" Jasper sat in thought for a few seconds, and then started to realize something, "Is that why you're always fused?"

Garnet looked at her. Jasper figured Garnet already knew what she was talking about, but was waiting for her to talk again.

"You said it in our battle, that you're made of 'love'. Is that why? Is that the relationship between the two gems that make you up?"

Garnet smiled, "You figure things out quickly."

"When you're a soldier, you kind of have to," Jasper replied, "You have to be able to analyze every situation and what to make out of it, or else it could be the end for you."

"It's understandable. I'm just glad you can apply that same thinking to things outside of battle." Garnet said.

"Glad?" Jasper asked.

"Yes. It's a lot easier to explain things that way," Garnet said.

Jasper crossed her arms, "It's strange,"

"About how we aren't acting as hostile as you would think?" Garnet asked.

Jasper nodded.

"I can see many different paths in the future," Garnet said, "And none of them include you attacking any of us, except for maybe one or two, and they aren't as clear as the others. Basically, I know you aren't going to attack me or any of the other gems."

"And what if, now that you've told me that," Jasper said, "I do attack one of you?"

"You won't," Garnet said with a smile that normally would irk Jasper easily, "You said it earlier to Steven. You wouldn't win."

Jasper sighed, "Right. I'm not the only perceptive one here. Plus you can see into the future."

"So, what exactly happened?" Garnet asked.

"About what?" Jasper said, looking slightly confused.

"What changed to make you act the way you are now? In any other situation, you would have fought us. What happened that convinced you not to?"

"I was trained to win battles. That's what I was created for," Jasper said, "and I can't even do that against those sorts of gems that Homeworld looks down on, that have no place in the Gem Hierarchy. Every time I have fought against you Crystal Gems, I've lost. If I can't even do what I was made for, what _can_ I do?"

Garnet paused, "So you don't see the point anymore?"

"There isn't a purpose for me anymore. There's nothing I can do, so there's no point in doing anything." Jasper said.

"I think tomorrow you'll think otherwise," Garnet said.

"How come?" Jasper asked, "What future vision path says that?"

"It isn't a future vision thing," Garnet replied, standing up, "Steven is just good at that."

"You Crystal Gems really put a lot of faith into that kid," Jasper remarked, "Why exactly do you believe in him so much?"

"You'll see," Garnet said, standing up. Jasper noticed that it was still dark.

"Wait, so who's watching me next?" Jasper asked, and Garnet turned around to look at her.

"I think you should get some rest," Garnet said, "And I don't think I'm going to answer that."

Jasper frowned. She had an inkling of who was watching her next.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 - Introspection

It took longer than Jasper realized for that next gem to take their turn to watch over her. The reason she didn't realize was that in the time it took for the gem to get there, Jasper had fallen asleep. She had been tired, but hadn't wanted to let her guard down against these Crystal Gems. But now, the need for rest overtook the need for caution.

When she woke up less than an hour later, she realized she never should have slept. The next gem to watch her, as Jasper had feared, was Lapis Lazuli. All fatigue was gone, Jasper jumped back and managed to hit her head on a wooden post of the porch that held it up.

This was a Gem that could so easily destroy her, and Jasper was intimidated. The absence of anger was initially strange to Jasper, but she didn't concern herself with that. She was scared. What were the Crystal Gems thinking, letting Lapis Lazuli watch her?

Jasper didn't bother to hide her fear. It was already obvious. But Lapis Lazuli looked more bored and grumpy, not paying really any attention to her. The blue gem had her head looking downwards, causing her hair to block Jasper from seeing any of her face.

 _Just don't say anything and this should be okay._ Jasper thought.

Minutes passed without a single word of conversation. Jasper thought that Lapis Lazuli would at least look up. Even without any sign of Lapis Lazuli even noticing that Jasper was awake, she decided to stay on guard.

Half an hour passed, and there was still nothing. Jasper had calmed down and was now simply confused. She thought she would at least maybe get some kind of glare or something that would justify her fear, even if it was little.

Jasper decided to take a risk and spoke up, "Hello?"

No response. Jasper remained confused.

Another fifteen minutes passed and Lapis Lazuli finally moved, yawning and stretching her arms. Only then did Jasper realize that Lapis Lazuli had been asleep for the past hour. This made no sense to her, but now that Lapis Lazuli was conscious, the fear began to return.

The blue gem looked up and saw that Jasper was awake. Lapis Lazuli then looked outside of the underside of the porch. It was morning. Once she saw that, she got up to leave.

Jasper needed an answer to something. Of all of these Gems, Lapis Lazuli was the least likely to let her guard down like this, never mind leave Jasper alone. She needed to know why.

"Wait."

Lapis Lazuli stopped and looked over at Jasper. Jasper almost decided to not say anything else, since Lapis Lazuli looked somewhat angry. But she needed to know.

"Why did you not do anything?" Jasper asked, standing up. Lapis Lazuli just stared at her. "I was asleep. You could have destroyed me, but you did nothing. Why?"

Lapis Lazuli shrugged and finally responded, "Would it be worth it?"

With that, Lapis Lazuli started to leave. Jasper now had even more questions, and ran after her. "What does that even mean?"

Lapis Lazuli stopped and turned around to face Jasper. The sun was just rising, but it was still somewhat dark on the beach. Jasper knew that Lapis Lazuli still could destroy her in a heartbeat, but she needed answers.

"Tell me something, Jasper," Lapis Lazuli said, "Why are you being so cooperative with the gems you called enemies? Why haven't you attacked any of us?"

"...I wouldn't win. I've said that before-"

"Not that," Lapis Lazuli interrupted her, "The real reason. Before, you would attack the Crystal Gems any time you could, regardless of the odds. But you didn't. You haven't. Even when Steven wasn't with any of us, you didn't attack him."

Lapis Lazuli looked Jasper straight in the eyes, "Why didn't you? You would have won then. So what's the real reason?"

Jasper found she couldn't immediately answer. Lapis Lazuli was right. When the Quartz Child found her under the boardwalk that held up Funland, Jasper could have attacked and destroyed him very easily. But she hadn't. She didn't even give much thought to the idea back then. She found that she didn't know why, either.

"I didn't destroy you because I'm giving you a chance," Lapis Lazuli said, "Steven trusts you. I hope that isn't just because he's naïve. You've got a chance to prove that you aren't going to hurt Steven or any of his friends. Don't waste it."

With that, Lapis Lazuli walked up the wooden steps and entered the building in front of the Crystal Gems' base, leaving Jasper standing on the beach, confused and mentally lost.

Lapis Lazuli had brought up a good question, and Jasper knew she needed to figure out the answer.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 - Questions

Steven was ready for today. Connie would be arriving at the Big Donut in an hour and a half-ish, and then they would go into Beach City and show Jasper all the fun things to do there. He hadn't had breakfast yet because he planned to bring Jasper to the Big Donut to have breakfast. Now that he had gone through his morning routine and was dressed and ready for the day, he ran to the door to go outside and get Jasper. Before he had even opened the door, he heard a voice.

"Hey Steven,"

It was Lapis Lazuli. She and Peridot were still staying at the temple, even though they didn't really need to stay anymore. Steven knew Lapis was worried, and had to guess that Peridot just didn't want to go back to the barn on her own.

Steven also remembered that it was Lapis who had been the last to keep an eye on Jasper.

"Hey, Lapis," Steven said, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Lapis answered.

Steven knew that was weird. Lapis didn't seem worried in the way he thought she would be, and that was concerning. Had something happened in the hours before he had woken up?

"Don't worry, Steven," Lapis answered, having figured that Steven would find her behavior odd, "I'm not going to stop you from being around Jasper. You can make your own decisions… just… be careful."

Steven smiled and nodded, "I will!"

Steven opened the door and looked back at Lapis and Peridot, "I'll see you guys later!"

Peridot was preoccupied with her relatively new tablet, but waved a goodbye. Lapis did the same, and Steven went out the door, closing it behind him.

Now that he was outside, he could see Jasper sitting on a rock, watching the sun go up. She seemed unusually peaceful. Even before, she had seemed angry and confused yet not hostile, but this was different from before. She wasn't angry anymore.

Steven ran over to the rock to say hello, but suddenly felt like he didn't need to. Jasper glanced back at him, but didn't say much. Steven decided to sit on the rock next to her, and the two sat in silence.

"This is different."

After the two had sat there for several minutes, Jasper had finally spoken up.

"Different how?" Steven asked.

"The last time I was here," Jasper began, "This planet was a war zone. It didn't look anything like this. It's strange."

"How so?" Steven asked again.

"You can't see something like this on homeworld. It's completely new to me, and I never got the chance to just… look at things. See them for more than just… a distraction," Jasper answered. "Homeworld has stars… but…"

"They don't make views like this?" Steven asked, and Jasper nodded.

"Is this what you Crystal Gems wake up to?"

"Most of the time, yeah," Steven said, "Unless I sleep in."

"So… this thing happens every day?"

"Yup!" Steven said, "The sun rises every morning, right where it always does!"

"Huh," Jasper said, "That's nice."

The two continued to sit in silence, watching the sun rise over the horizon, until Jasper spoke up again.

"Hey, Quartz Child,"

"Yeah?"

"Lapis Lazuli said you trusted me. Is this true?"

"I mean," Steven paused, "Yeah. Was she worried?"

"I don't think I can answer that," Jasper said, "I'm just more curious about why."

"Why what?" Steven asked.

"Why you trust me. You have no reason to."

Steven paused, and thought for a bit. He couldn't easily think of an answer to that question.

"I guess I just…" Steven paused, then continued, "I have a feeling that… there's a lot more to you than being a gem that fought against my mom."

Steven saw that Jasper was even more puzzled with that answer.

"Sorry I can't give you a better answer than that," Steven said, "It's just… it's a feeling I have. I can't really explain it."

"No, that's fine," Jasper said, "it just… made me think. Uh, don't we have somewhere to go?"

Steven realized it was probably past the time that the Big Donut opened. "Right! We gotta have breakfast! Follow me!"

Steven jumped off the rock and ran in the direction of the Big Donut with a confused Jasper in tow.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 - Amusement

Jasper very quickly figured out that human buildings were not made to contain a gem of her stature. It was very hard to stand inside this building Steven called "The Big Donut" and not break the structure which formed a wall at the top of the room. It had been hard enough to get through the door, and she was not going to even try to sit in one of the chairs at a table in the room. She could sit down just fine without it.

"Hey, Jasper! How many donuts do you want?" Steven asked from over at the counter. Jasper had decided to not go that far into the room, and had noticed that the two people that Steven called "Lars" and "Sadie" were visibly intimidated by Jasper. Most humans were. This was not a surprise.

"How big are... donuts?" Jasper asked, and Steven got Sadie to hold up a donut.

 _Wow, that's tiny._ Jasper thought, _But then again… this food is meant for humans. I'm not that puny._

Steven decided to get a dozen or so, since Jasper could probably fit at least four donuts in one hand alone. Jasper learned a dozen was equivalent to twelve of the torus shaped food items Steven called donuts. She wasn't sure if that information would be useful in the future.

Steven had already began to eat a donut. Jasper was holding a donut with a pink substance on it, as well as smaller substances not as firmly connected to the physical donut which came in many colors.

"Go ahead and try it," Steven said, "Pink frosted donuts with sprinkles are my favorite. I hope you like them, too, since I got so many."

Jasper figured it was worth a shot, and took a bite out of the donut.

The donut tasted nothing like the only other food item Jasper had eaten before, which were chips. It was weirdly sweet and not something Jasper really liked, but the texture of the donut itself made it all worth it. Jasper ate the remainder of the one donut and took another. She saw that Steven was smiling, and for some reason, she wanted to smile, too. She would have, if she wasn't so occupied with eating.

Soon the two had finished the box of twelve donuts. Jasper had ended up eating most of them, while Steven had eaten three before he was 'full'. Jasper didn't quite understand that concept until Steven explained that humans can only eat so much food before their stomachs are full.

"That's a shame," Jasper said, "Food is good."

"I know, right! Though I shouldn't overeat, I could get sick."

"Sick?" Jasper asked.

"Uh…. hmm…" Steven was thinking for a while before he answered, "It's sort of like… if your gem was cracked but it gets better on it's own… usually."

"That's rough," Jasper said, "That isn't something I'd want to go through."

"Me neither," Steven answered. The two heard the door of the Big Donut open with a jingle, and Jasper saw the child that had been with Steven the previous day, Connie, had arrived.

"Hey Connie!" Steven said, "Good morning!"

"Morning, Steven!" Connie said, running over to them, "And, uh, morning Jasper. How are you two?"

"Good!" Steven answered in his typical happy tone.

"Cramped," Jasper said, and for some reason, Steven and Connie both laughed a little at that. "What? It's true!"

"I know, sorry about that," Steven said, "I didn't think about if you could fit in here. It's not… usually something we'd have to worry about."

"Figures," Jasper shrugged, "None of the Crystal Gems are as tall as me."

"They also don't usually go out here with me," Steven said, "Well, I guess Amethyst does."

"Why's that?" Jasper decided to ask.

"Dunno. Guess they're just shy. They're getting better at it, though!"

Jasper shrugged. She wouldn't be able to understand why a gem wouldn't want to go wherever they wanted. It wasn't like there was anything that could hurt them.

Unless there was. Jasper saw that as very unlikely.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Connie asked, looking at Steven.

"Okay! So… we had breakfast, so… we could go to Fish Stew Pizza for lunch… or maybe Beach Citywalk Fries… or maybe we could get ice cream… or maybe…"

"Isn't that all just getting food?" Connie asked, a little concerned.

 _I'd be okay with that,_ Jasper thought.

"Right… we could go to the arcade… or Funland! Or both!" Steven said, "We could also go play Mini Golf… though I think we'd need another person…. Or we could just hang out and do stuff on the beach. There's all sorts of stuff we could do!"

The first place the three had decided to go to was the arcade. Jasper just wanted to get out of the cramped building, but found that the arcade systems had controls that were far too small for her hands, and she'd always end up pressing two buttons when she wanted to press one. There were some games where you would sit down on a machine that Jasper was able to play. Steven and Connie called them racing games. Jasper hadn't lost all the matches, but did lose a bit. She blamed it on inexperience.

Next was the amusement park.

"So… why do they call this… an amusement park?" Jasper asked as the three walked to the entrance of said park.

"Cuz it's a park that has all kinds of fun stuff!" Steven answered.

"...Like what?" Jasper asked.

"Well, there're roller coasters, bumper cars, lots of mini games, all sorts of stuff!" Steven was grinning, "C'mon, we'll show you!"

"Hey, Steven! Wait up!" Connie said, running after him. Jasper paused for a moment, watching them run off, then shrugged and followed.

After entering Funland, Jasper pointed to a fast moving vehicle on a track, "What's that?"

"That's a roller coaster!" Steven said, "C'mon, let's go on it!"

Somehow, Jasper was able to fit in the seat of the roller coaster simply because it was one where you sat, strapped into a seat that hung off the track. Steven and Connie were in the seats on either side of her, and they were waiting for the coaster to take off.

The coaster began to move, and Jasper looked at both Steven and Connie to make sure this was supposed to happen. They were both excited, so Jasper figured this was correct. She then made the poor choice to look down.

 _That's… a big drop…_ Jasper thought, _Why does this thing bring you up so… so… oh no._

Jasper noticed that the coaster was about to drop. They were almost at the top of a hill in the track, and it was a very, very steep drop.

"Is this a death trap?" Jasper asked, and Steven and Connie both laughed a little.

"No! You'll be fine!" Steven said as the coaster reached the top of the hill.

The three were in the first row of seats, and thus were the first to go down the hill. Everyone was screaming, but not really in fear. Jasper instinctively held onto the harness that kept her in the seat, but didn't scream. This thing was bizzare, throwing them into loops and twists and turns that Jasper couldn't understand, and all at a very, very high speed. She could feel the wind pushing her back into her seat. She noticed that Steven and Connie had completely let go of their harnesses and had their hands in the air. Only now did Jasper realize no one was screaming out of fear. It was more like laughter and amusement.

 _This is… fun to them?_ Jasper couldn't understand, _Is it… the thrill? Maybe I should let go?_

The coaster got to the top of another steep hill, but stopped at the top and suddenly started to go backwards. Jasper had not expected this when she had let go of her harness, and wasn't able to grab it again. The only thing keeping her in her seat was that harness.

The fun definitely came from the thrill.

The coaster soon pulled into the place where the three had gotten onto the ride, and they were let out of their seats. Connie and Steven were laughing. Jasper was, too.

"That's a roller coaster!" Steven exclaimed, "They're tons of fun!"

"I wasn't expecting that," Jasper thought, "Wow… that's fun to humans? I wouldn't have thought."

"There are a lot of things about humans that aren't easy to explain," Connie said, "But the feeling of going at such high speeds with onlya harness keeping you from falling… even though you know you won't die, it's really a huge adrenaline rush. It's a lot of fun."

"So… what's next?" Jasper asked.

"Another roller coaster?" Steven asked, looking at Connie and Jasper. Both of them nodded and ran off to the next intimidating roller coaster they saw. Jasper knew she was smiling. She knew she was having fun.

It was a feeling she hadn't ever felt before, and it was fantastic.


	21. Chapter 21

Author's note: I FIGURED I SHOULD FINISH THIS ONE DAY… I'm not one who likes to keep people hanging and leave stuff unfinished. Now that this is totally not canon for SU, it was sort of hard to write but I'll do my best.

Also author's note: sorry about the formatting issues.

* * *

Chapter 21 - You Can Never Be Too Careful

"You sure you want to follow them around? I'm pretty sure it'll all be fine, Peri."

"It's not logical to just trust a gem like Jasper from one or two conversations with her. That, and Lapis Lazuli is still doubtful and I am concerned for that."

"If you don't think we need to watch them," Lapis asked, looking over at Amethyst, "Why'd you come along?"

"Cuz I thought it'd be fun. Duh." Amethyst answered.

The three were hiding in a tree right next to the Big Donut, where Steven was just now introducing Jasper to donuts. So far, nothing bad had happened and Jasper hadn't been violent towards anything, but Lapis and Peridot agreed that they couldn't just let Steven and Jasper be together without supervision. So they had decided to spy on them.

"Man, those donuts look good." Amethyst remarked, "Maybe I should've asked Steven if I could go too. It's making me hungr-"

"SHHHH." Peridot shushed Amethyst, who shrugged it off.

"Alright! Shhhheesh." Amethyst whispered.

The three noticed that Connie had arrived. They figured this meant that they were going to leave soon. Connie said a few things of which Steven and Jasper both responded to, and for some reason whatever Jasper had said made both of them laugh. Soon after that, the three proceeded to exit the Big Donut and run over past the tree and in the direction of what Peridot concluded to be the Amusement Part near which she discovered her metal powers.

"Alright," Lapis said, "Let's go."

Lapis and Amethyst got out of the tree as quietly as they could. Peridot was not so fortunate and fell out of the tree with a thud.

"Pfffff, Peri, you sure you're used to Earth's gravity?" Amethyst sneered in as friendly a manner she could.

"Shut up!" Peridot answered, and Lapis ended up rolling her eyes as she led the quiet charge to spy on Steven's adventure with Connie and Jasper. The group managed to blend in with the crowd and follow the others around.

"Did they really convince Jasper to try a roller coaster?" Amethyst whispered, "That's gonna be interesting. I bet you 50 cents she wont fit in the seat."

"I'm not taking that bet." Peridot answered.

"All right. Your loss. Take a look." Amethyst jestured. Somehow, Jasper was able to also get on the roller coaster, and it took off.

This earned a disappointed sigh from Peridot. "I don't even know what cents are, but darn."

"Looks like they're having fun." Amethyst said, grinning because she knew she was right about there being nothing to worry about.

"You can never be too cautious!" Peridot protested, and saw Steven and company get off the roller coaster. They hid just in time.

"That was a blast! What should we do next?" Steven asked.

"I vote bumper cars!" Connie said.

"What are… bumper cars?" Jasper asked.

"C'mon, we'll show you!" Steven said, and the three went towards the bumper cars.

"Jasper's gonna love that!" Amethyst sniggered.

"Come on. We're gonna lose them." Lapis said, and the three continued to follow Steven, Connie, and Jasper.

The three managed to find a bench that was obscured enough from the bumper cars that they wouldn't be seen by Steven, Connie, or Jasper unless one of the three really bothered to look, but where they could keep a close eye on all three of them whether they were in line or on the ride.

The three got in the ride. Usually there were two people to a car, but Jasper was big enough to warrant her own. She seemed confused about the controls, but then the ride started.

Connie and Steven were sharing a car, and everyone started bumping into each other. Jasper looked horribly confused, but once she finally figured out how the car worked, she managed to slam into another bumper car with her own, and it went speeding the other way, bumping into more cars. Jasper had it figured out, and actually grinned.

"...She's actually having fun." Peridot remarked.

"No duh. Bumper cars are great." Amethyst said.

"Is the point of this ride to crash into each other?" Lapis said, looking a little agitated.

"Yeah. That's the point. No one's gonna get hurt, though. See?" Amethyst said, and Lapis looked over. No one was getting hurt. Everyone was just having fun.

"...Huh." Lapis remarked.

Steven, Connie, and Jasper went on the bumper cars a number of further times in the following hour. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves, and afterwards the trio went to get food at Fish Stew Pizza. It was more difficult to watch the three there, but Peridot and Amethyst managed to do it just because they were short enough to have to try to see through the window. Lapis waited out of sight.

"Figures she likes pizza." Amethyst remarked, "Man, I should introduce her to cheesy puffs. I bet she'd love those."

"It seems like Jasper just likes food." Peridot remarked monotonously.

"Hey, it's great to know there's another gem around who actually enjoys food like I do." Amethyst said, "She's not that bad. Though I get why Lapis is so concerned."

"I don't think Lapis will ever trust Jasper, but I don't think Jasper will ever trust Lapis, either." Peridot said, "They… aren't a good combination."

"You're telling me. I had to help in fighting Malachite too y'know." Amethyst remarked.

"Yeah. Not a good combination." Peridot stated.

"But… she's not a terrible person." Amethyst said, "She's actually kind of okay."

"...It takes a while to come to terms with that." Peridot said, "As a gem doing her job… she was always so strict. It's weird to see her loosen up like this."

"Maybe it's a good thing." Amethyst replied.

"...Maybe it is." Peridot answered.

The two suddenly had to duck down as they realized that Steven, Connie, and Jasper were leaving. After waiting for the coast to be clear, Lapis got over to them.

"Did anything bad or suspicious happen?" Lapis asked, her concern being obvious.

"Nah. We just learned Jasper likes pizza." Amethyst answered with a grin. Peridot rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't appear that Jasper is a threat as of now." Peridot answered. "Did you catch where they were going next?"

"...No." Lapis answered.

"It's getting late. They're headed back to the temple." Amethyst answered. "They went in that direction."

"Let's try to get there before they do," Lapis said, and she proceeded to pick up both Amethyst and Peridot and fly towards the temple, high enough to be out of sight and fast enough to get there in time.

"JEEZ!" Peridot said, "I AM NOT FOND OF HEIGHTS IN WHICH I AM NOT TERRIBLY SECURE."

Amethyst responded to this with laughter, and Lapis couldn't help but laugh a little, too. The three managed to get back to the temple several minutes before Steven, Connie, and Jasper returned. They landed on the sand outside the temple.

"Act casual." Lapis said, "Talk about something."

"Sure. Man I could go for some donuts right now." Amethyst remarked with another grin.

"My dad should be here soon." The three could hear Connie's voice, so they knew Steven, Connie, and Jasper were approaching.

"How do you even tolerate food?" Peridot asked, "It's so… strange to injest."

"Just have to figure out how digestion works, Peri!" Amethyst said, "I can explain it some time if you want."

"Is that some type of system?" Peridot asked.

"Yeah. A human one. Isn't that wicked?" Amethyst asked.

"Humans have internal systems?" Peridot asked, and Amethyst nodded again.

"Hey guys!" Steven ran over to them. The three had returned. "What are you all talking about?"

"Oh, hey Steven! Welcome back!" Amethyst said, "I was just talking to Peri and Lapis about food and stuff."

"Like the digestive system?" Connie asked, "Sorry, I overheard."

"Nah, it's fine. Honestly, Connie, you can probably explain that better than I can if you want to explain." Amethyst said.

"I probably don't have the time… but..." Connie answered, and then began to explain.

Steven noticed that Jasper was staying several meters away from the group, "Hey, Jasper! Do you wanna join the conversation?"

"I think I'm okay here. Th-thanks." Jasper said.

Steven frowned, and turned to Lapis and whispered, "Is she really that afraid of you?"

Lapis paused, and then answered, "...I don't blame her."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - Wondering

"So, how did it go?"

After Connie had been picked up by her mom, Steven wasn't terribly surprised when Garnet started to ask him about the day. He figured Garnet already knew it went well, but decided to roll with it since everyone else probably didn't. Peridot was preoccupied with research on the human digestive system, and was trying to get Lapis to look at something on her tablet about it. She would occasionally ask Amethyst a question, to which Amethyst would usually shrug and nod.

"I think it went really well!" Steven said.

"I mean, she didn't try to hurt you or Connie, right?" Pearl said, in her typical disregard for tact but entirely honest concern for Steven's wellbeing.

"No! Jasper had a lot of fun- we all did!" Steven answered, "We went to the Big Donut to meet with Connie, and then we went to Funland and went on a ton of roller coasters!" he paused, "I'm still not sure how Jasper fit in the seats,"

"Frankly, I wouldn't be sure either," Pearl remarked. Garnet just chuckled.

"We also did bumper cars… a lot of bumper cars," Steven added, "We played some arcade games but Jasper broke one of the whack a mole machines so that didn't last long. We got pizza after that."

Garnet and Pearl looked at each other, Pearl evidently surprised.

"So… it was just a good time?" Pearl asked, and Steven nodded.

"That's… Garnet, do you think she…?" Pearl said in a low whisper.

"I don't think she does," Garnet answered, "That could be a good thing, but…"

"Guys?" Steven asked.

"It's nothing, Steven, I'm glad you had fun," Garnet said with a smile. Steven gave her the look he always gave her when he felt like something was being hid from him.

"You'll know soon."

Pearl turned to Steven, then to Garnet, surprise only growing. Garnet just shook her head.

"Anyways, it's been a long day, and I need to check on something," Garnet said, "I'll see you all later."

Steven frowned. He was still very confused about what Garnet had meant, but Pearl ran after Garnet before he could ask her, knowing Pearl couldn't keep secrets nearly as well as Garnet could.

"What was that all about?" Peridot asked, looking up from her tablet.

"Dunno," Steven said.

"Don't worry about it too much, Peri," Amethyst said, "Garnet's always hiding stuff from us anyways."

"I'd be annoyed, but I'm sure there's got to be some logic for it, right?" Peridot asked, looking at Steven as if she was expecting an answer.

Steven sighed, "There usually is… but that doesn't mean I don't want to know!"

"Man, even I don't know what this is about," Amethyst remarked, "Must be something about something from way back."

"Then maybe it's best we don't push it," Lapis said, finally speaking up.

Steven frowned and looked outside, "I think I'm gonna go check on Jasper."

"Right, yeah, we're probably gonna have to watch her again," Amethyst said. Peridot glanced at Lapis, who just shrugged.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys later!" Steven said, opening the door to the house and going outside. He ran down the wooden stairs of the porch and checked under it, and there Jasper was. She looked like she was thinking really hard.

"Hey, Jasper?"

She looked up, a little surprised, and answered, "Oh, you're back… guess you guys still think I need supervising, right?"

"You'd have to ask Garnet," Steven answered, sitting next to the large orange gem, "I think you're fine on your own."

"I still can't understand it, Quartz Child."

"What?"

"Why you trust me… it doesn't feel right," Jasper answered. "You said it was something like a hunch."

"Yeah, something like that," Steven answered.

"I wish I knew what that was about…" Jasper frowned.

Silence passed for a while until Steven decided to speak up.

"This might be a delicate subject, but… what do you remember about… the Gem War?"

Jasper paused, "Anything specific you want to know?"

"Anything, really," Steven said, "I'm sure you've got plenty of stories, right?"

"It's… weird… as much as I've taunted you about it back when I thought you were Rose Quartz… I don't remember as much as I should," Jasper said, "I just know that I fought against her- against your mother, against Pearl, against the Crystal Gems, and that Rose Quartz had done… something… something that caused us to retreat and give up on this planet becoming a colony…"

Steven thought back to Centipeedle, who had been damaged by something done to Earth by the Diamonds.

"Not every gem got off of this planet," Jasper said, "...We were all in a rush, because the Diamonds were going to do one last attack to get rid of the Crystal Gems. Something they did themselves…"

Jasper paused. Steven looked over at her.

"I wonder what they did… and why they went so far as to handle it themselves…"

Steven decided to throw out a question about what had begun to bother him since Jasper had said it. "Why do you think you don't remember much about the war?"

"...I don't know," Jasper said. "I can't remember much more than what I've already said."

"...I think I have an idea."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23 - Expectations

"So, lemme get this straight," Peridot said, "You don't remember anything about the war?"

"I wouldn't say I don't remember anything… just not as much as I would like…" Jasper frowned.

Other than Garnet, Pearl, and Lapis Lazuli, Peridot would be the only gem that would know anything about Jasper's time on Earth. Steven figured asking Peridot would be the best first step.

"That's really weird," Peridot remarked, "Considering this planet is where you were made in the first place."

"Wait- really?!" Steven asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Peridot remarked, "There were three types of gems made here- all Quartzes. Jaspers and Amethysts were two of them. I don't really know much about the third one since that information was classified, but that's irrelevant."

"Wait, did I hear that right?"

Amethyst eavesdropping didn't surprise Steven all that much.

"Thought I'd bring snacks, since y'all seem to be having some super secret meeting," Amethyst chuckled, "But actually, Jasper, you were formed on Earth?"

"According to Peridot," Jasper answered.

"Dude!" Amethyst punched Jasper in the shoulder as she sat down next to the larger Quartz, "That'd make us, like… sisters!"

"Sisters?" Jasper looked puzzled.

"Yea- we came from the same place, so we'd be like sisters!"

"Well, sort of," Peridot interrupted, "Amethyst, you were made in the Prime Kindergarten. Jasper would have been made in the Beta Kindergarten- no offense, Jasper."

"Beta Kindergarten?" Steven asked, confused.

"Yeah. Halfway through the war, Homeworld was in a rush to make more Quartz Soldiers, so they made the Beta Kindergarten- maybe I should just show you guys. It was a really rushed job," Peridot scoffed, "Ah- still, no offense, Jasper."

Jasper shrugged, "I'm what I am, rushed or not."

"Easy for you to say," Amethyst mumbled. Steven could already tell something was already bothering Amethyst about this.

"But yeah, let's go see it. Maybe it'll get Jasper to remember some stuff," Peridot remarked, standing up so that she was about a head shorter than Jasper was while sitting. "To the nearest warp pad! Or something!"

The Beta Kindergarten was in a canyon of sorts, with walls of red sandstone. Lots of red sandstone. It felt homey to Jasper, for sure, but even she could tell that a lot of the gem holes around were heavily deformed. Peridot was already mocking them as the certified kindergartener she was. Jasper decided to tune Peridot out on that.

Most of these gems came out all sorts of odd ways. One was a Carnelian that came out sideways. Another one was far too skinny for a Quartz. As hard as Jasper tried, it was hard to tune out the tiny green gem. She figured part of it was to make Amethyst feel a bit better about being in the ground for too long.

Even Jasper could admit that the Prime Kindergarten had much better conditions than this one, but yet, this is where she came from. She hadn't been told that there was anything wrong with her: quite the contrary. She had started to feel almost unworthy when Amethyst asked about another hole, which made all of them pause.

"-Oh."

They were all motionless until Jasper took a step forward. And then another.

The hole they were looking at was far different from the others, and Jasper was drawn to it. The hole was much bigger than any of the others and was about six feet off the ground. The inside was glassy.

Jasper looked up at it, blinking a few times.

"H-hold on, HOLD ON," Peridot said, scrambling over and trying to climb up into the hole, "I'm sure there was something wrong with this one, um-"

Peridot looked over at Jasper, who wasn't responsive, and then over to Steven, "A little help here?"

Steven ran over and helped Peridot up into the hole.

"You see, uh, the problem here- uh, oh, wait, oh, no, um, there's a trick that if I count the steps back into…"

After several moments, Peridot came back to the front of the hole, looking somewhat defeated, "It's even… I've never seen an exit hole this perfect, actually…"

Jasper had zoned out, and knew something was going on with Peridot, Steven, and Amethyst behind her, but she decided to climb up into the hole. She just barely fit inside of it, which confirmed her suspicions.

And then she remembered.

 _She had came out in a sandstorm, but when she landed she had made such a loud thud that everyone around knew a gem had come out. The Beta Kindergarten was in full rush mode, but everyone paused to look at her._

 _Jasper didn't know why she was there. She had just… came into existence. She slowly got up and looked around, and after several moments was ushered towards a warp pad, told she needed to fight the Rebellion._

 _She didn't know what the Rebellion was yet, but fighting sounded appealing. She didn't know why._

Jasper paused, coming back into the present and hearing the voices of Peridot, Amethyst, and Steven.

"This shouldn't be right! These conditions shouldn't be able to produce the perfect quartz! I don't…"

 _The perfect quartz…_

"Ugh, so even with everything against her…"

"Amethyst- no, this doesn't matter," Steven said, "Who you are isn't where you came from!"

"Steven, look at it! I'll never be that!"

 _Yeah right._

"You don't have to be that!"

"But I was _supposed_ to be that!" Amethyst yelled, "That's just… it's not fair that she gets to come out perfect while I'm-"

"I'm not perfect."

The three paused and looked over at Jasper, who was sitting on the edge of the hole she originally came out of.

"It's stupid that homeworld thought I was. It's stupid that I thought I was. And I get that now."

"What?" Amethyst asked.

"I'm terrified of failure," Jasper said, jumping down from the hole and onto the ground, "And I've failed everything I was asked to do on this planet and more. That's why I can't go back to homeworld, you know. And now I know why I'm so afraid of that: because of this stupid hole I came out of!"

"How the heck does a hole define who I'm going to be for the rest of eternity? That's just stupid!" Jasper found herself getting angrier and angrier, and she turned around to look at the hole."This is it? This is why I've been so scared? Gems basing their expectations of me by a gem forsaken _hole?!"_

She made a deliberate choice, and formed her helmet.

 _This thing isn't me. It never was._

Jasper took what sounded like a deep breath, and smashed her helmet into the ground below the hole she came out of.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24 - Sisters

Destroying the hole she originally came out of shouldn't have made Jasper feel better in the long term, but somehow the effects lasted. The action was mostly for herself. She knew now, and even then and before, that the hole she came from didn't mean anything, but seeing it as the source of her debilitating fear of failure and destroying it because of that had made her feel almost less afraid of failure.

She was okay with her failures. They had brought her to where she was today, and because of that, Jasper couldn't regret it.

The night watch had become lax. There were times during the night where Jasper would go hours at a time unwatched, and this didn't give her any ideas of doing anything. She found herself feeling sad about it. She enjoyed the company of the other gems, though she wasn't sure she'd admit it to anyone other than Steven at the time.  
"Hey, Jas, you awake?"

Jasper looked up to see Amethyst poking her head through the opening of the underside of the porch that faced the beach and ocean.

Amethyst smiled weakly, and walked over and sat a few feet across from Jasper.

"Sorry for that," Amethyst remarked.

"Don't be," Jasper answered, "I can get why you were frustrated."

"I just… didn't take you as the kind of person to be afraid of anything, y'know," Amethyst remarked, "Didn't realize failure hit you that hard."

"Most people don't," Jasper mumbled, although loud enough for Amethyst to hear. "I usually keep it to myself. I just had… a lot of anger there."

"You destroyed almost that entire wall," Amethyst remarked, and Jasper shrugged.

"I was angry at it."

"At the wall?"

"At the hole," Jasper said, "It felt like… it was the reason why everyone seemed to expect so much of me. It became, kinda, a representation of all of that. I was tired of people expecting me to be perfect… I guess… I was tired of being afraid of not living up to people's expectations."

"...I guess none of us are ever gonna be that," Amethyst laughed weakly, "I mean, if you can't do it… who can?"

"Perfect's impossible," Jasper said, "And hey, you've got plenty of things you can do that I can't."

"Like what?"

"Fit in a doorway for example."

That got a genuine laugh out of Amethyst, "You can just shapeshift, y'know."

"Never was a fan of that. Feels weird. Besides, wouldn't it be a pain to have to shapeshift whenever you went in and out of a doorway?"

"I guess that's true. I'd get exhausted, probably."

After a while of silence, Jasper spoke up.

"I'm sorry, by the way."

Amethyst looked up, a little confused.

"For making you feel that way, I guess."

"Oh- no, it's not really your fault…" Amethyst said, "I mean, it's not really anyone's fault… it's just… you're really the only example of what a Quartz is supposed to be that I've got."

"Quartzes are supposed to be warriors… big, strong, all that… and I'm not that."

"Who told you what a warrior was supposed to be?" Jasper asked.

"...Lots of people, things… uh," Amethyst frowned, and decided to deflect it with a question of her own, "What's a warrior supposed to be to you, Jasper?"

"Someone who fights for what they care about," Jasper remarked, "By that definition, I'm by no means a warrior, but even then… that's how I see it, I guess."

"Someone who fights for what they care about…" Amethyst mumbled.

"I've been fighting, but now I just keep asking myself what I was fighting for… what did I care about," Jasper remarked, "There's something inside me, call it intuition I guess… that tells me that's what it means to be a warrior. And that I've fought for something I've cared about before. I just… can't remember."

Jasper frowned, "I remembered something when we saw my hole… when I came out, I was kinda thrown into battle, and I did terribly because I didn't know why I was fighting… and then something happened… I found something to fight for…"

"And you can't remember what it was?"

"No…" Jasper looked down, "I wish I could."

Amethyst smiled, "...heh. Thanks, Jas."

"For what?" Jasper asked.

"I've been fighting for the gems- the people I care about since I can remember… so according to you, I've been a warrior since day one."

"So you have," Jasper let out a small smile. "Thanks, also. I was getting kinda lonely down here."

"Hey, you can talk to me whenever," Amethyst said, punching Jasper on the shoulder in a playful manner, "We're sisters, remember?"

"Right," Jasper smiled, "Thanks, sis."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25 - Gem Hunt

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You want me to go with Pearl, Connie, and the Quartz Child, on a _mission_?" Jasper asked.

"Yes." Garnet answered.

"I'm not a Crystal Gem." Jasper answered.

"This is true, but there's something I want you to see for yourself," Garnet answered.

"And that is?" Jasper asked.

"...You'll see if you go," Garnet answered.

"You know, not everyone can see the future," Jasper frowned. "I can't count it out that the whole thing might be a trap. I can't say I trust you or Pearl yet."

"But do you trust Steven?"

"...Point taken."

"So will you go?" Garnet asked, and Jasper let out a sigh.

"I'll give it a go, I guess… but this doesn't mean I'm a part of your group," Jasper answered.

"Understood," Garnet said, smiling, "There's been some corrupted gem activity in the north, and it's going to be Connie's first mission. I want you to be there as backup in case something goes wrong."

"Corrupted gem activity?" Jasper asked, and Garnet nodded.

"You'll see. I can't exactly explain it without showing you the real thing," Garnet answered.

"All right," Jasper said, "Doesn't sound like it should take too long…"

"So Jasper's going on the mission with us?" Steven asked, a huge smile on his face.

"Ugh…" Pearl muttered, "Yes, she is."

"Woo HOOO!" Steven cheered, "Connie, Jasper's actually going with us!"

"So it's my first mission _and_ Jasper's first mission?"

"Well, technically speaking, yes," Pearl answered, then glancing over at Jasper, "...I still don't understand why Garnet's gotten you to come with us…"

Jasper shrugged.

This was the first time she had been in the beach house, and although she would only get a short look at the area, it turned out that the house was basically an extension of the original base of the Crystal Gems, and was where Steven lived and where he and the Gems spent most of their free time. Peridot and Lapis Lazuli had been living in the house for the time being as well, though the reason to Jasper was unknown, though she could guess the reason was herself.

"Okay, are you all ready?" Pearl asked, and Steven and Connie nodded. She then looked up expectantly at Jasper, who also nodded once she realized that was what she needed to do, "Alright, let's go."

Though Jasper hadn't used a warp pad in a while, the feeling wasn't new to her. The next sensation, however, was more new.

"Okay, here we are!" Pearl sounded excited as the warp ended and the area called the Great North was revealed.

The ground was covered in a white substance Jasper soon asked about, which was called snow. There were a lot of pine trees around, and in front of the warp pad was a giant wailing stone.

"Wait! Connie's parents told me to take lots of pictures," Steven said, "Uh, Pearl, Connie, can you guys stand in front of the Wailing Stone?"

Steven looked up at Jasper, "Do you want to be in the pictures, too?"

"I'm good," Jasper answered, and watched as Steven asked Pearl and Connie to do various things as he took pictures of them.

"Okay," Pearl said after about five rounds of pictures, "I think that's enough photography for now,"

Steven grinned, and Connie looked over at Pearl.

"Thank you so much for letting me come along, Pearl, it's such an honor to work alongside you," Connie said. Jasper was starting to get a handle on how much Connie actually respected Pearl, and had heard before that Pearl had been teaching Connie how to sword fight. Currently, Connie was the one who had the sword Jasper foggily remembered to have once belonged to Rose Quartz.

"Well, Connie, your sword fighting skills have far exceeded my expectations," Pearl replied, "And, with my careful supervision, I think you should be able to handle a gem recovery mission like this."

Steven snapped another photo, saying excitedly under his breath, "Connie's first mission!"

Jasper found herself with a smile on her face.

"Okay, Connie, recap the mission for us," Pearl asked, and Connie nodded.

"Garnet sensed some corrupted gem activity around the woods in this area, and gave us the job to locate, defeat, and bubble it," Connie answered.

"Bubble?" Jasper asked, and Steven nodded.

"It's what we do to, uh, the corrupted gem's gem after we defeat them… it's all we really can do until we figure out how to undo the corruption," Steven answered.

"Huh…" Jasper said. _Corruption… I've got a bad feeling about this…_

"Now, human bodies aren't built to last in the cold for very long, so we'll have to be extra careful," Pearl said.

"Don't worry, I've brought all the basic necessities needed in order to survive here," Connie answered, a determined look on her face.

"And I brought board games! Y'know, in case we get bored." Steven grinned, running over. Jasper followed.

"Right," Pearl said, missing the joke entirely, "Good."

"So how will we know if the corrupted gem is nearby?" Connie said, "N-"

Connie was quickly interrupted by a loud growl.

"That's how!" Pearl said, and several trees were knocked down as a large four legged creature bounded out of the woods, halting just before the group of them.

"What the…" Jasper looked up at the creature, "Wait…"

Connie started to unsheathe her sword, and Steven snapped a photo of the large gem creature.

"Remember, you work together!" Pearl said, and Steven summoned his shield.

"Ready, Connie?" he asked, and Connie nodded.

Suddenly, there was more noise from the woods as a second corrupted gem, similar looking to the first, came out of the woods.

"Two of them?" Pearl asked, "Garnet never said there'd be two…"

The two corrupted gems looked like they were communicating, and then the two charged at them.

"Steven, bubble!" Pearl said, and Steven nodded as the four stood close together.

"Bubble power!" Steven said, and a large pink bubble encased the four of them. The gems jumped over the bubble and fled in two directions behind them.

"They… ran away?" Steven asked.

Pearl sighed, "There wasn't supposed to be two…"

"Oh! I have an idea!" Connie said, "We can split up! Pearl, you can go after one, and Steven, Jasper, and I can go after the other!"

"Connie, although I know your combat skills are excellent…" Pearl paused, looking over at Jasper, "I suppose if Jasper goes with you two, it should be okay. Jasper, you can make sure things don't get too rough, right?"

"Sure," Jasper answered, looking over at an excited Connie and Steven.

"All right," Pearl said, "But as soon as you find the monster, you need to contact me using the walkie… talkies, that Steven brought. If anything happens, you need to tell me. Again, what are you supposed to do when you find the monster?"

"Call you," Steven and Connie answered.

"And if anything bad or unexpected happens?"

"Tell you about it," Steven and Connie responded.

"All right," Pearl answered, "Be safe, okay?"

"Yes ma'm!" Connie and Steven said simultaneously.

Pearl looked over at Jasper, "Make sure they don't get hurt, okay? If anything happens, I swear…"

"I get that you don't fully trust me, but I'll make sure they get back safe," Jasper answered, "It's the least I could do."

"Okay," Pearl said, "I'll see you three later."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26 - Outmatched

Pearl went in the direction of one of the gem monsters, and Steven, Connie, and Jasper went in pursuit of the second gem monster, the one that was more orange in color.

Steven was looking around and admiring the trees. Jasper couldn't help but do the same. She hadn't had much chance to observe the scenery that the Earth had the last time she was on the planet, and hadn't had much time to do that since she returned.

"Okay," Connie said, stopping at a footprint that was left in the snow, evidently by the gem monster the trio was following, "We just have to follow these tracks and we'll be able to find them."

The three continued to follow the footprints, when Connie asked Steven a question that had also been on Jasper's mind.

"So these corrupted gems are kind of like wild animals, right? Just a bundle of fight or flight reflexes and survival instincts?"

"Well, they're like that now," Steven answered, "But before they got corrupted they used to be normal gems, like Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet… They had thoughts, and feelings… friends... "

Steven frowned, "I don't really know how the corruption works… it's like they're sick. They don't remember who they used to be… maybe they don't even know how to look like themselves anymore."

Jasper paused. _...So that's it…_

"Whoa, Steven, are you okay?" Connie asked, and Jasper snapped out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Steven answered, and the three noticed it had started to get windy and began to snow.

"Maybe we should take shelter from this blizzard," Connie said, "Like… under that tree! I can make some vitamin-C rich tea from the pine needles. That way we won't get scurvy."

"Like a pirate!" Steven said, and although Jasper didn't know what scurvy was, nor what a pirate was, she followed the two under the tree.

Jasper left Connie and Steven to figure out how to make the tea, and soon after she heard Connie say that it was ready.

"Jasper, do you want to try some?" Connie asked, and Jasper shrugged.

"I don't see why not," Jasper said, accepting the cup of tea that Connie was offering. The three took a sip and all grimaced in disgust. Jasper hadn't had food that tasted bad until now.

"How is it?" Connie asked.

"It's… bad," Steven answered, and Connie laughed.

"It's not about tasting good," Connie said, "It's about survival, Steven."

"For me it's about tasting good," Jasper mumbled, and Steven and Connie laughed.

Their laughter was interrupted by a familiar sounding growl. The three scrambled out from under the tree before the gem monster took a swipe at the tree and knocked it cleanly over. Connie unsheathed her sword while Steven summoned his shield. Jasper was standing between the two, slightly behind them, as they all looked up at the corrupted gem.

The gem monster noticed the sword and attacked. Steven let out a yell and a pink bubble surrounded them. Jasper wasn't aware of how might fight experience the two had, but evidently it wasn't much. Jasper didn't want to admit she was likely somewhat rusty, but there was something about the gem monster that intimidated her, when she figured it out, looking at the gem on the monster's chest.

"That's… that's a Jasper…" Jasper mumbled.

The bubble popped, sending Steven to the left, Connie to the right, and Jasper backwards.

"Steven! Jasper!" Connie yelled, and Jasper scrambled up to stop the monster from charging at any of the other two, grabbing the corrupted gem by the horns and struggling with it.

 _Still as strong as a Jasper, too!_ She thought, and then felt herself being lifted from the ground.

The next thing she knew, she had been thrown and felt her body hit a tree, falling into the snow. She slowly got up and found that the corrupted jasper was charging at her, again. She dove out of the way, did a somersault, and turned to see where the monster was and what it was doing. Steven and Connie had gotten up, to Jasper's relief, but she saw something else coming.

"Steven? Connie? I can't seem to find the other gem monster…" Jasper heard the walkie talkie say as she saw the other gem monster charge towards her. She managed to grab the blue one by the horns again, and made sure to plant herself firmly on the ground to make sure she wasn't thrown again.

"P-Pearl! They're both here!" Jasper heard Steven say, followed by a commotion on the walkie talkies Jasper couldn't afford to focus on. She could hear the other gem monster charging, and lifted the one she had in her grip off the ground and swung it at the other, knocking the two back but failing to destabilize their forms.

 _Still just as sturdy, too…_ Jasper frowned, watching the two corrupted gems get up and communicate with one another. Jasper summoned her helmet and charged with a spin dash, separating the two monsters and drawing their focus.

"Steven, Connie!" Jasper yelled, "Now's your chance!"

Jasper couldn't tell if the two had heard her, as she found herself between two gem monsters and a wall. She couldn't see very many escape routes as one monster charged at her. She rolled under the legs of the gem monster and dove to the side to avoid being trampled on, only to be met by the second gem monster barrelling right into her.

 _Darn, I felt that._ Jasper grimaced, _I really am getting rusty._

Jasper felt the horns of the monster dig into her and realized she was about to get slammed into a wall if she didn't act fast. Grabbing the gem monster by the horns and trying to position herself correctly, she tried to slow the corrupted gem down. In response, she found herself being thrown upwards, unable to get her feet on the ground. She saw one of the two monsters jump up to grab her, and Jasper assumed, slam her to the ground. There wasn't much she could do to prevent exactly that from happening.

Jasper felt herself hit the ground, and then felt nothing as everything went white.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27 - Poofed

"JASPER!" Steven and Connie yelled, both running to get the corrupted monsters off of Jasper. They knew what had happened and saw Jasper get poofed. If her gem took any other impact, it could be cracked, or worse.

Fight or flight took over, and both of them collectively had decided to fight, and Steven felt his conscious merge with Connie's.

A shield slammed down on the blue and pink gem monster, batting it to the ground, and Stevonnie jumped off, scooping up Jasper's gem.

"Wait- whoa-" Stevonnie said, looking down at themselves, "We- we just-"

"No time for that!" Stevonnie found themselves interrupting their own words as the second gem monster charged at them. They blocked with their shield and counterattacked, thrusting their sword right into the second gem monster, whose form exploded into dust leaving only their gem.

Stevonnie barely had time to scoop up the second gem before they had to dodge the blue and pink gem monster. Using the time they had after evading the charge, they bubbled the gem of the poofed gem monster and carefully held onto Jasper's gem.

"Steven, Connie?!" They heard Pearl's voice from the walkie talkie, "I'm going to try to find you!"

Stevonnie didn't have time to respond, rolling out of the way of the remaining corrupted gem monster and deflecting a claw swipe with their shield.

"I hope Pearl gets here soon," Stevonnie remarked, glancing at Jasper's gem which was in their shield hand.

White.

That's all it was.

Jasper hadn't felt this in a while. She knew what had happened, she just couldn't quite believe it.

"Heh," Jasper heard herself say, "Figures…"

She couldn't get a clear image of herself at the time, and didn't want to. At least not yet.

"I really am rusty…"

Silence.

And then she heard something. It wasn't the voice of Steven, or Connie, or Pearl. It wasn't a voice she could name, but it felt familiar.

And the white began to turn pink.

"She was poofed in her first battle?"

"Are you sure that she isn't… defective?"

"The exit hole was perfect, though!"

That was a Peridot. Jasper knew it wasn't the Peridot she was familiar with.

"Hadn't she just came out when you ushered her right into battle? What did you expect?"

That voice.

"Oh- um… -"

Jasper heard the Peridot address the voice, but what was said was muffled.

"Yes, um… that's what happened."

"You can't expect a Quartz to do even half as well as she did without any training," the voice said, "It's incredible that she was able to defeat so many, right after she came out."

 _Are they talking… about me?_ Jasper heard herself think.

"Set her up for training as soon as she reforms," the voice said, "I'll be keeping tabs."

"Yes, my diamond!"

 _But that voice wasn't…_ Jasper felt the voices fading away, _Wait, wait!_

"This is all my fault… if I had been able to help out sooner…"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Steven," Garnet said, "She'll be back soon."

While the mission had been a success, Jasper had been poofed.

"She hadn't fought in a long time, and both of those corrupted gems had been Jaspers just like her," Garnet said, "If I had known they would be Jaspers… I probably wouldn't have sent her with you."

"Why did you send her, anyways?" Pearl asked, "You weren't clear on that, you know."

"I wanted her to see what it is we're fighting… what corruption is," Garnet said, "It's been made clear that she doesn't remember what happened at the end of the rebellion, but someday she's going to remember."

"Remember what?" Steven asked.

"I don't think… I'm ready to tell you, Steven. I don't think any of us are," Garnet answered after pausing, "And yes, I know that only makes you want to know more… but it's not something I'm ready to talk about."

"...Okay," Steven frowned.

The door to the beach house abruptly opened. "Did Jasper seriously get poofed?"

Peridot ran over, looking at Jasper's gem, "Wow, she really did."

"She was protecting Connie and I," Steven frowned, "If I had just been able to react sooner… this wouldn't have happened."

"Well, she probably knew she was in over her head, anyways," Peridot remarked, "it's interesting, though… that she went that far."

"I think I underestimated her," Pearl admitted, "I wasn't sure she was going to really protect Steven and Connie… but she did that, to a point far beyond what I expected…"

"Well, duh."

Steven turned around and saw Amethyst looking through the cabinets. "You guys just needed to give Jas a chance to show you she's someone you can trust."

"And we did," Garnet said, "She's really… changing."

"And a lot of it's just her, too," Amethyst said, pulling out a big bag of cheesy puffs. "She asks herself all sorts of questions."

"Jasper questions almost everything," Peridot said with a hint of a groan, "I would know… but she's a lot more introspective than she comes off to be."

"Yeah, that," Amethyst said, jumping down from the counter and going over to where Jasper's gem had been since Steven, Connie, and Pearl had returned from their mission a day ago, "There's a lot more to her than being a big bad quartz."

Amethyst put the big bag of cheesy puffs next to Jasper's gem, smiling, "Figured she'd probably want a snack when she decides to come back."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28 - Concern

Steven sighed, staring at Jasper's gem. He was lying on the floor, bored. The bag of cheesy puffs hadn't been moved: he and Amethyst had actually added to it. There were now at least five bags of cheesy puffs all near where Jasper's gem had been for the past week.

"How long do you think it's gonna be before she's back?" Steven asked, looking over at Amethyst. He and Amethyst had been hanging out all day, though they hadn't been doing much. Garnet and Pearl were on a mission, and Peridot and Lapis were outside, making sandcastles, which qualified to them as 'meep morps', the phrase they used to mean art.

"I dunno. She's definitely taking longer than I usually do," Amethyst said, "Then again, she likes thinking. Maybe she's got a lot on her mind."

"Maybe…" Steven sat up, "Do you think… once she's back, everyone's gonna be more willing to give her a chance?"

"I mean," Amethyst scoffed, "She did get poofed protecting you and Connie, right?"

"Yeah," Steven said, "She did…"

"It'll at least get Garnet and Pearl to trust her a little more," Amethyst said, "I hope so, at least."

"Yeah…" Steven frowned, "She's… she's changed so much. I think she definitely cares about me, you, and Connie at least…"

"Of course she does," Amethyst said, "Honestly… Steven, I'm glad you gave her a chance."

"Really?" Steven asked, perking up.

"Yeah," Amethyst smiled, "She's… she's not the violent Jasper we all thought she was. She's really trying to, like… get us, y'know?"

"I knew there had to be more to her than just that," Steven said.

The two heard the progressive ring of the warp pad, and they looked over to where Garnet and Pearl had appeared.

"How'd it go?" Amethyst asked, and Garnet shrugged.

"Doesn't look like there's any more corrupted gem activity in the north," Pearl answered, "So I suppose it went well."

"She's still not back, is she?" Garnet asked, and Steven shook his head.

"You'd think she wouldn't take much longer than Amethyst would," Pearl muttered, and Amethyst laughed.

"I thought the same thing," Amethyst said.

"Jasper… probably has a lot to think about," Garnet remarked, sitting on the floor next to Steven, "Now that she's seen what corruption is, we're probably going to have to explain it to her."

"Are you sure we should do that?" Pearl asked, sitting between Garnet and Amethyst, "I mean… it's damage from the diamonds… how do you think she'll react to that?"

"Well, knowing her, it doesn't matter how she'll react, she'll get you to tell her one way or the other,"

The beach-house door had swung open, and Peridot walked in, "She doesn't _ever_ stop asking questions, so it's pretty much futile to hide any information from her."

Peridot moved to sit on the other side of Steven, "She's still not back, is she? Awful long time for a Quartz."

Steven looked over at Lapis, who was still standing and staring at Jasper's gem for longer than he thought she would.

"She really did try to protect you and Connie, huh," Lapis mumbled.

Lapis sighed, "I'm gonna go back to the barn and take a nap."

"O-Okay, I'll be there later," Peridot said, and Lapis waved before she walked over to the warp pad and warped away.

Steven watched Lapis go.

 _She's also got a lot on her mind…_ Steven frowned.

Steven felt someone nudge him and looked over at Garnet, who smiled and nodded at him.

"You should probably see how she is later," Garnet whispered, and Steven nodded back.

"So, Amethyst," Peridot said, "Why are you accumulating this huge pile of… cheesy puffs… near Jasper?"

"Figured she'd like them," Amethyst said, "And, it's kinda an inside joke… she's like a big cheesy puff, kinda like how you're a tiny slice of pie."

"...Is that seriously still a thing…" Peridot grumbled, and Amethyst laughed.

"One day, Steven and I'll probably have a snack for everyone," Amethyst said, grinning, "But right now I've just got one for you and Jasper, though that's because it was too good."

"Oh you've got to be kidding…" Steven looked over at Pearl, who had a hand over her eyes. Whether she was disappointed or amused, Steven would never know.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29 - Return to the Barn

Steven followed Garnet's advice and was able to stay that night at the barn with Lapis and Peridot. Since Lapis was asleep when the two had arrived, Peridot decided to push Steven thought seasons one through three of Camp Pining Hearts, and although Steven barely knew what he was in for, he knew he wouldn't be able to escape it. Peridot had, in his opinion, entirely overanalyzed the show, though he had to admit it was fun to see what she could come up with, and asked questions to see if he could trip Peridot up at least once.

He succeeded at least four times, but this ended with him promising Peridot to watch the next two seasons the next day. He fell asleep, but knew Peridot was probably going to be up all night revising her theories.

He was having a dream.

Steven knew it had to be a dream. He was in the Beta Kindergarten, and there were a ton of gems there.

Instead of being inside the dream, as he usually was, he felt like he was looking from the outside. It was unusual.

Steven heard a commotion and looked over to the source. A gem had just gotten out of their hole, and Steven would have gasped if he could have made a sound: it was Jasper. The Jasper he knew.

 _Wait… why would I be… is Jasper in her gem… remembering this?_ Steven asked himself, watching as Jasper looked at her hands, not knowing what she was or why she was here. Only moments later, Jasper was ushered to a warp pad, and Steven saw the whole area go white as Jasper warped to some other area.

It was a battlefield, and Jasper had to fight without knowing who she was or why she was there, but despite that, he saw Jasper poof hundreds of gems before being poofed herself. The battle ended shortly after Jasper was poofed with the rebels retreating. Jasper was brought back with several others to a large and ornate pink box which had its own legs.

Everything turned white before Steven could see who was in the box.

Steven opened his eyes and sat up, looking around. He saw that Peridot had fallen asleep amidst her notebooks and papers, all on her theorizing over Camp Pining Hearts. He also saw that Lapis was no longer where she usually napped. He decided to get up and sneak by Peridot, going to the outside. It was a decently warm night, and the sky was completely clear.

He had a feeling he knew where Lapis was, and looked up to the barn's silo. He climbed up the ladder and managed to keep his balance as he climbed to the top of the silo. He saw Lapis glance back at him, but then look forward again. Steven knew that just meant that she didn't mind him sitting with her, so he walked over, managing to continue to keep his balance, and sat next to her on top of the barn's silo. If she wanted to talk, she'd be the one to talk first.

"You always seem to know when something's wrong," Lapis remarked after a moment of silence. "That's why you decided to stay at the barn tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I was worried," Steven answered, "I know that… there's a lot going on for you, about Jasper being around…"

"It's just hard to believe," Lapis said. "She… actually was trying to protect you and Connie. That's really hard for me to believe."

"Yeah," Steven answered, and the two sat in silence once more.

Several minutes of silence passed before Lapis decided to speak up again.

"I don't know if I can handle being around her again," Lapis said, "When we were all taking turns watching her, that was different… she was asleep for most the time she was there. And she was terrified of me when she woke up. I… could have gotten rid of her right then and there. But you were giving Jasper a chance. I didn't want to hurt you like that, Steven."

Lapis paused, and Steven figured she was half-expecting him to respond. He couldn't come up with what to say.

"It's hard to think that maybe… she really is changing," Lapis said, "Not when you've… gone through something like Malachite for so long…"

Lapis sighed, "Can I tell you something, Steven?"

"Of course," Steven answered.

"It's hard to not think about back when… Jasper and I were Malachite, and how I used all my strength to keep her at the bottom of the ocean… how we kept fighting for control…"

"But it's… it's not like that anymore."

"It's not that, Steven," Lapis frowned, looking away, "Sometimes… I _miss_ it."

"What?!" Steven asked mostly in surprise.

"We were fused for too long," Lapis remarked, "It was terrible- _I was terrible_. It wasn't healthy, and I never want to feel like that again, but even still, in the back of my head… I actually liked taking everything out on her…"

Lapis sighed, "I wish I could just forget it. But with Jasper around… It's hard to forget. It's taken so much not to hurt her or do anything like that."

Steven frowned, "That's… that must be a lot to take…"

Lapis nodded, "Sorry for venting this all out on you…"

"No- no, it's okay!" Steven said, looking over at Lapis, "It's good to talk about things that bother you to people. I'm glad you could talk to me about it."

"...I guess," Lapis said, "...I know that it's not Jasper's company that's the problem… it's that I missed the way I was able to take out my anger on her. And that wasn't okay. It wasn't healthy. I guess… I need a better way to deal with my anger."

"Do you think… anything's been helping with that since you started living at the barn?" Steven asked.

"...Yeah," Lapis smiled, "Meepmorp helps. That toilet thing Peridot and I made- it kinda helps me vent stuff through using my powers… without breaking anything."

"That- that's good!" Steven replied, "See, there are other ways to deal with anger. You've been doing it this entire time!"  
Lapis smiled to herself, "Yeah…"

The smile turned to a frown, "I just… I'm going to have to talk to Jasper about it eventually. If she's going to be around here for a while… it's inevitable. I just don't know if I'm ready to talk to her."

"If you need more time, I'm sure that's not a problem," Steven said, "Chances are… she's probably not ready to talk to you about it, either."

"...You're probably right," Lapis remarked, "Peridot told me that there's a lot more on Jasper's mind than just what happened with Malachite… and from what I can tell, she's still pretty scared of me…"

Lapis sighed, "If I could just… not have to talk to her about it, maybe it would be okay… but… I've got to. If you're giving her a chance… and if everyone else is giving Jasper a chance… then eventually I'm going to have to talk to her."

After some silence, Steven finally figured out how to respond.

"You know… I'm really happy," Steven smiled.

"Eh-About what?" Lapis asked, looking over at him, obviously confused.

"No one told you that you had to talk to Jasper about it," Steven answered, "Lapis, that was all you. You're making that decision. That's really brave of you, y'know?"

Lapis paused, contemplating what Steven had just said.

"I guess, in a way," Steven said, "I'm just really proud of you."

Lapis snorted, and then laughed, "I… I guess you're right." she smiled, "Thanks, Steven. I'm glad I got to talk to you about this."

"I'm glad you talked about it," Steven smiled, "You know, you've changed a lot, too, Lapis."

"Heh…" Lapis looked over at the sun rising. Steven also looked in the same direction, "I guess I have."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30 - Bismuth

It had been two weeks since Jasper had been poofed. None of them really knew when she would reform, but she was definitely taking her time. Lapis and Peridot were spending more time at the house than the barn at this point. They had claimed the couch: Lapis claiming the longer part and Peridot ending up with the shorter part.

All Steven felt he could afford to do was to just pass the time until Jasper reformed. So, he was playing a video game, and Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were watching him play.

"Oh my goodness!"

"Go for it, bro!"

"This is your last chance."

Steven could feel his anxiety spreading to the three gems.

"No…. nooo… jump… jump…."

"Awh!" the three gems said as Steven failed the level.

Steven sighed, "Dying a bunch in video games is emotionally exhausting…"

He could head growling on the floor, and let out a "Huh?" as he looked over to see Lion chewing on one of his shirts.

"Lion!" Steven said, jumping up and running down the stairs. Lapis was asleep and Peridot was nowhere to be found. Jasper's gem still remained in a basket right next to the large pile of cheesy puffs they had accumulated, which Lion had left respectfully untouched.

"Let go of that!" Steven said, grabbing the shirt that Lion had stolen, finally pulling it from his jaws. "Jeez, Lion! You aren't supposed to chew that up!"

Steven ran back up to his dresser, "How else am I supposed to remember riding the Thunderbird!" He put the shirt next to the three other souvenirs that he got from riding the Thunderbird. He smiled at the picture of him, Connie, and Jasper on the roller coaster.

Steven started to go back to his game, absolutely sure he could beat the level he was stuck on this time, when he heard another thump.

Steven turned around and saw that Lion had grabbed his shirt again. "Lion!"

Lion jumped down with the shirt and headed towards the door. Steven was able to reach the door before Lion, blocking it.

"No way, not this time!" Steven said, reclaiming the shirt once again. "Ugh, if you're going to keep stealing this, I'm going to have to put it where you can't get it- in ya mane!"

Lion grumbled the best a lion could and sat down, letting Steven enter his mane.

"Thank you boo," Steven said, jumping into the mane.

Lion's mane held a pocket dimension, and Steven kept some of his belongings there along with the belongings that his mother had put there, long ago, somehow.

 _Alright,_ Steven thought, climbing up the lone tree and hanging the shirt on the tree, _Now it'll be safe forever, hanging in this perfectly stable tree-_

Ironically, the branch Steven was standing on broke, causing Steven to fall onto something that was bubbled, and breaching the bubble. Steven would have yelped if he could, but he was running out of oxygen in the mane, so he rolled out of the mane and back into the beach house, gasping for breath before he yelled.

"I'VE MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE!"

"Whoa- what happened?" Amethyst asked, the three gems looking at him and Lion.

"Wait- WAIT! I can fix this!" Steven said, jumping back into Lion's mane after he caught his breath.

Steven looked over at the gem that had been bubbled in the mane, and reached for it to bubble it again when it rose and started to glow. Steven gasped without opening his mouth and stumbled back. The gem reformed, landing on the ground on her knees and stumbling, going into a fighting stance. She was a huge gem with rainbow hair and bluish skin. She looked around, confused, and then spotted Steven. The two locked in eye contact for a moment, before Steven rolled back and once again left Lion's mane, gasping for air.

"There's a Gem in Lion's mane!" Steven yelled, and the three original Crystal gems gasped. Peridot had returned, and Lapis had woken up, both wondering what all the commotion was about.

Pearl glanced at Garnet before looking back at Steven, "A Gem?"

Garnet also looked over at Pearl before looking back at Steven, and continued, "Describe her."

"Uh… hang on a sec…" Steven said, and dove back into Lion's mane. He peeked only his head out to see what the gem looked like, but she noticed him again.

"Hey, wait!" she said, just before Steven ducked out again.

Steven looked back at Pearl and Garnet, also catching his breath, "She's big!"

He went back in to get more details, where the gem spotted him again.

"Huh? Hey, don't go!" she said before Steven dove back out.

"With rainbow hair and tattoos!" Steven said, again catching his breath.

"Rainbow hair…?" Pearl said, and Garnet and Pearl leaned towards Steven.

"What does… her gem look like?" Pearl asked.

"Uh… it's an innie?" Steven said, half an answer and half a question as he was unsure if Pearl would understand what he meant.

"...It can't be…" Pearl said, looking at Garnet.

"Can't be what?" Amethyst asked. Peridot and Lapis looked at each other, confused.

"Steven," Garnet said, "Bring her out."

"O-Okay!" Steven said, and he dove back into the mane.

Steven poked his head out of the mane, and looked around for the rainbow haired gem.

"Hey, little friend," the gem surprised Steven, and he squeaked away from her.

"Wait, don't go!" she said, and Steven was still determined to get her out of the mane, so he hadn't left yet.

"I believe I'm lost," she said, "And there's no one here but us, so… how about a little help?"

Steven paused before sticking his hand out for the gem to grab it. The Gem paused before taking it.

Steven helped the Gem out of the mane, and looked over at Garnet, who had her mouth wide open, Pearl, who was covering her mouth with her eyes watering, and Amethyst, who didn't have much of a reaction.

"Wooow," Amethyst said, "A total stranger!"

Garnet took off her visor. Steven realized what was happening.

"Pearl… Garnet…" the gem said.

"B-b-b-BISMUTH!" Pearl was overjoyed as she ran towards the gem and jumped up to hug her, "Ahahahah! You're back!"

Steven noticed Lapis and Peridot moving slowly out of sight. Lapis looked extremely nervous and Peridot seemed to be feeling the same way.

"Whoa!" Bismuth said, tossing Pearl up and catching her, "Hah ha! The Pearl I know _never_ jumps into my arms!" she looked around, "Hey, did somebody lose a Pearl?" Bismuth grinned at Pearl, "Who do you belong to?"

"Nobody!" Pearl exclaimed proudly.

"Haha!" Bismuth laughed, and Garnet approached them.

"Alright, alright, settle down…" Garnet said.

"Oh, you're one to talk," Bismuth scoffed in a playful manner, "Oh, s'cuse me, you're _two_ to talk."

Garnet scoffed in response, summoning one of her gauntlets and punching Bismuth in the shoulder.

"Hey," Bismuth replied, "Your Ruby's showin."

Amethyst stood next to Steven and Lion. The three of them were entirely confused.

"Where have you been?" Pearl asked, after finally being put down, "We thought you had been captured! Or worse, _shattered._ "

"Shatter me?" Bismuth scoffed, "Pshh, Homeworld couldn't lay a scratch on this gem."

"Ahem," Amethyst interrupted, "Who is this?"

Garnet grinned, leaning on Bismuth's shoulder, "Guys, this, is Bismuth. She's one of the original Crystal Gems."

"Oh, hey! New recruits!" Bismuth said, "Welcome aboard, we could always use more Amethysts. And-" Bismuth looked over to Steven, "Who's this meatball?"

"H-hi, I'm Steven," Steven answered, "Uh, y-you were in my lion and now you're in my house."

Bismuth leant down to shake Steven's hand, "Well, thanks for havin me!"

"I can't _believe_ this!" Pearl said, happily, "Rose said she lost track of you at the battle for the Ziggurat! She was worried sick!"

Steven saw Bismuth's face turn from one of happiness to worry, "Wait, where is Rose?"

"Uh," Steven interrupted, "Hi, uh, actually… I'm Rose's son. She kinda turned into me… well, I have her gem, the rest's from my dad…"

Steven lifted up his shirt to show his gem. Bismuth knelt down and looked at it.

"Huh… there she is," Bismuth answered. "You…" Bismuth looked at Steven, "Do you remember me?"

"No… sorry," Steven said, frowning.

"It's not always easy to understand Rose's choices…" Pearl said, "But we have to stand behind them."

"Rose really is somethin else," Bismuth remarked, and grinned, "I mean, really! She's really something else!" Bismuth laughed and looked around, putting her hand on Garnet's shoulder, "Wow, everything's changing! And we're building bases outta wood now?" she tore part of a plank of wood from the floor, "Who's terrible idea was this. And where is everybody else?"

"Everybody else?" Steven asked, and Bismuth turned around.

"Yeah! The rest of the Crystal Gems!" Bismuth answered. Steven saw Garnet and Pearl look at each other, concerned.

"We… should probably show you something," Garnet said, "C'mon, we'll warp there."

The group of five warped to the Strawberry Battlefield, and Bismuth gasped.

"What- we, we were just here!" she said, walking off the warp pad and forward, looking around. "How long was I out?"

Pearl walked next to Bismuth, "It's been about five-thousand three hundred years. We, the Crystal Gems, were able to save the Earth…"

"But we're all that's left of the rebellion," Bismuth finished, and Pearl nodded, in tears.

"Aw, c'mon Pearl, you know I can't take it when you cry like that!" Bismuth said, also beginning to cry.

"I'm sorry," Pearl said, and Bismuth shook her head as Garnet joined them.

"No, no need to apologize," Bismuth answered.

"Homeworld's final attack on Earth wiped out _all_ of the Crystal Gems," Garnet said.

"Rose was able to protect Garnet and myself, and by the looks of it, she was able to protect you as well," Pearl continued.

"Humph…" Bismuth grumbled, "I knew those Homeworld elites were twisted… How many of us did they shatter? Crazy Lace? Biggs? Snowflake? If I was there… I could'a stopped it!"

"It's not like they've stopped trying," Garnet remarked.

"What's that?" Bismuth asked.

"Homeworld still has its eyes on this planet," Garnet answered.

"We continue to thwart their plans over and over," Pearl continued.

"But they just keep coming back!" Steven yelled, running over. Amethyst joined them.

"Yup, they want us baaad," Amethyst commented.

"Good," Bismuth said, "I thought I wouldn't get another chance to show those upper crusts who's boss! Let's show them what happens when you mess with the Crystal Gems!"

"Y-Yeah!" Steven said.

"Bismuth," Garnet said, "the Gems on Homeworld outnumber us by a huge amount."

"And their technology far surpasses our own," Pearl added.

"Tch," Bismuth laughed, wrapping her arms around Garnet and Pearl, "What else is new?!" She looked over at Garnet, "Garnet, do you remember when we took out a battalion of Quartz soldiers? We walked out of there with our gems shining more than when we came in!"

"As I recall," Garnet said with a smile, "It was three battalions."

Bismuth grinned and looked at Pearl, "And Pearl, remember when we stopped that drop ship? I'll never forget the look on that Nephrite's face when you pulled her out of the cockpit!"

Pearl laughed, "I _know,_ how embarrassing for her!"

"Haha! So let's pick up where we left off! To the forge!" Bismuth shouted.

"Yay!" Steven said, being drawn forward by the mood, "To the forge!"

"Yo," Amethyst interjected, "What's a forge?"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hey guys, Jamitney here. I hope you've enjoyed the daily updates thus far. I'm going to change to a weekly schedule now that I'm starting to get stuff together for my re-entry to college for the fall, and now that my appointments are back. (I didn't have any last week.)

So, I'll try to post a new chapter every FRIDAY, including this coming Friday.

I also need to slow down the writing pace, since my injury has actually gotten worse in the past 1.5 weeks. This isn't just due to typing! Typing is probably the activity least likely to worsen my injury, unless I spend a long time typing. This is mostly because I was told by my Occupational Therapist to start drawing again. Just for clarification and a little bit of an update.

Anyways, that's enough from me. I hope you guys enjoyed the introduction of Bismuth into the story, and if you have any ideas of how to implement Bismuth's story or anything about Bismuth into the story, do tell me in the reviews! I'm having... a little trouble working around her, and she isn't the only character I'm going to have to work with or around.

Have a good week, all of you. I'll be posting chapter 31 on Friday.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31 - Plan of Reaction

"Was that a _Bismuth?!_ " Peridot asked. She and Lapis were hiding in the bathroom before Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and the newcomer Bismuth had used the warp pad to go somewhere.

"That didn't bring back pleasant memories… a Bismuth poofed me before I got put into that mirror…" Lapis said.

"Jeez… she's not going to warm up to us nearly as well as Steven and the others did. Do you think we should just go back to the barn until it's safe?" Peridot asked as the two finally exited the bathroom now that Bismuth was gone.

"Maybe…" Lapis remarked, and looked over at the basket that held Jasper's gem, "But…"

"Right," Peridot said, "Out of all of us…"

"She's helpless if Bismuth figures out who she is," Lapis said, "I think we should take her with us."

"...You're the last person I'd expect to care for Jasper's wellbeing," Peridot remarked.

"Let's just call it atoning for what I've done to her in the past," Lapis said quickly, "Let's grab her and get to the barn."

"Alright… but what if she-"

"We'll figure that out later, Peridot," Lapis replied. She had already grabbed the basket, and looked back at the small green gem, "We've got to get out of here before that Bismuth comes back."

"O-oh, okay!" Peridot answered, scrambling over and grabbing a bag of cheesy puffs before the two ran to the warp pad and warped to the barn.

A day had past before Steven was able to sneak away to visit the barn. Bismuth was training with Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst, and Steven had already said it was a bit intense for him. He had also noticed that Jasper's gem had disappeared along with Lapis Lazuli and Peridot, and had an idea of where it had gone.

Arriving at the barn, Steven ran past the crop fields that Peridot had recently started to occupy her time with and to the barn itself.

"Lapis! Peridot! It's Steven! Are you there?"

Peridot poked her head out of the barn door, "Oh, good, you're alone,"

Peridot grabbed Steven and pulled him into the barn. Lapis was watching TV, but had noticed Steven's entrance and turned off the TV before going over to them.

"Is everything okay?" Steven asked, "You guys disappeared after Bismuth showed up…"

"She doesn't seem like the type to warm up to the idea that we're hanging around here…" Peridot answered, "And, sorry we didn't tell you, but we also took Jasper's gem with us."

"If Bismuth figured out who she was… she'd be helpless in this state," Lapis said, "And… as much of a troubled past I've had with Jasper…"

Steven nodded, "I understand."

Lapis smiled, and Peridot looked confused, "Am I missing something here?"

"It's nothing," Lapis answered.

The three sat in the loft together, which was where Jasper's gem was being kept in an area which if she reformed wouldn't cause her to hit her head, hopefully.

"So… a Bismuth was the gem that poofed you before you got stuck in the mirror?" Steven asked, and Lapis nodded.

"If it was that Bismuth, and it likely was… I doubt she would remember me. But I remember her, and I'm not willing to take that risk," Lapis answered. "You said that she was in a bubble in Lion's mane?"

"Yeah," Steven said.

"Wow, that means that she was put there for a reason, right?" Peridot asked, "Why would she be there?"

"I guess… my Mom put her there… wait…" Steven paused, "Pearl said that my mom lost track of her…"

"Something doesn't seem right there," Peridot commented.

The three were startled when they heard a knock on the door. "Hey, Steven! You in there?"

It was Amethyst. That was a little of a relief.

"I'll go," Steven said, standing up and running down the stairs to the loft to the barn door. He opened it slightly and saw that Garnet, Pearl, and Bismuth hadn't come to the barn with her.

"Oh, phew," Steven said, opening the barn door fully.

"Wow, they really redecorated the place," Amethyst remarked. She was holding the huge pile of cheesy puffs. "They took Jasper's gem, right?"

"Yeah- uh, they were worried that if Bismuth figured out who Jasper was that Bismuth would-"

"Go figure," Amethyst remarked, "Bismuth's cool, but she's super headstrong."

Amethyst stumbled into the barn, trying not to drop any of the cheesy puffs, "HEY! Can I put these somewhere?"

"Uh, yea!" Peridot answered, looking down from the loft, "You can put them where the other snacks are!"

"Other snacks?" Steven asked, and Amethyst quickly found what Peridot had meant.

"Where did you guys get all of this?" Amethyst asked after she put down all the cheesy puff bags.

"Have you guys been taking food from the house?" Steven asked, and Lapis rolled her eyes as Peridot tried to defend them.

"I-I mean, we didn't-"

"It's okay, guys," Steven said, smiling, "Just ask next time."

Peridot sighed in relief, and Lapis snorted.

"So, can I ask something?" Amethyst said as the four sat on the couch in the loft. "What happens if Jasper reforms while her gem is here?"

"We… haven't exactly thought that out yet," Peridot answered, "We're taking it a day at a time… or at least I am."

"It depends on how Jasper reacts," Lapis answered, "Though, she's probably not going to like being around me too much."

"I mean, she's kinda terrified of you," Amethyst commented.

"Yeah," Lapis answered, "That."

"Quartz gems rarely take more than three weeks to reform," Peridot said, "So Jasper could reform any day now. The probability of her reforming while her gem is at the barn is pretty high."

"If she reforms, you guys should probably video call me," Steven said, "It'd be good to at least know about it when it happens."

"Gotcha," Lapis answered, "And… this time, I won't destroy the computer…"

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys. So I had one of my OT appointments today and as I had suspected My hand has gotten significantly worse than it was before. Right now I am using speech to text To write this note As I had Already written this chapter Prior to the news About my hand. The weird capitalization Is because of this. Thus I'm not allowed to type again, Meaning that I'm not going to be able to write More chapters Of Jaspers Journey. I'm still looking for A co-author So that perhaps I can still Get some chapters out So if anyone is serious About helping me write this story Please private message me About it. I had previously had a co-author but that had fallen through So if you want to help Please be confident That you're actually going to take this on. It takes me a lot of time to respond to people When I'm not able to type, So please only message me if you're serious about helping me Write the story. Thank you for all of your support And Hopefully I'll be able to get more chapters out Beyond my stockpile Once I find a co-author. And also thank you for understanding.

-Jamitney


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32 - Reflections**

If Jasper could see herself now, she would be frowning. Not in sadness or disappointment, but in deep, deep thought.

It had been silent for a long time.

"You need to make a decision, Jasper."

She wished she could recognize that voice. It felt so important to her, but Jasper just couldn't remember. She needed to remember.

She'd been hearing that same voice say the same thing every so often, and Jasper knew that she had a big choice to make. She had to make a decision on what mattered most to her now.

Through logic, Jasper knew if she returned to Homeworld, she wouldn't be shattered. But she didn't want to go back.

She had known that for a while. She knew she wanted to stay on Earth and learn- remember, what really happened there. She knew she valued the friendships she now had, at least with Amethyst and Steven. And although she was still terrified of Lapis Lazuli and distrustful of Garnet and Pearl, she didn't feel like it was impossible to co-exist anymore.

She didn't feel like she belonged with the Crystal Gems and company, but she knew she felt more at ease with them. Far more at ease than under Yellow Diamond's command.

She already knew her decision: she didn't want to go back to Homeworld. She wanted to be able to face her past, and remember exactly what it was that happened on Earth. Why she couldn't remember as much as she knew she should.

She thought back to when she had washed up under the wooden platform which held the amusement park called Funland.

She remembered that it was Steven and Connie who had found her, and from the beginning how Steven was willing to give her a chance.

It still seemed so weird to her. It had been weeks, maybe even months. She didn't have a good grasp on time since she had been poofed.

She remembered the night where every gem took turns watching her, and remembered how she came to accept, or at least respect the mindsets each individual gem had.

She managed to relate to Peridot over their shared fear of failure and Yellow Diamond, managed to bond with Amethyst over the wonderful existence of food, managed to converse with Pearl and, Jasper knew she would have laughed a bit about it now, in a way reassure her that Jasper was fully aware of how much of a threat she was.

She remembered trying to understand Garnet and what she was, and found herself beginning to understand what healthy fusion was.

And then there was Lapis, who out of them all had the most reason to at least damage Jasper on the spot, she felt. But even Lapis decided to trust Steven's judgment and give Jasper a chance.

"That kid's really something," Jasper heard herself say.

There was so much about the Earth, about where she was from, that Jasper _needed_ to know. And she knew that being with the Crystal Gems, at least for the time being, was the best way of going about that.

And then Steven and Connie took her to the amusement park that she had washed up under, to experience things just for the fun of it. She'd never had a chance to do that before, or at least she didn't remember if she ever did.

And then they discovered that Jasper was missing memories of things she should remember from the war. And Steven wanted to help her get them back.

They visited the Beta Kindergarten, where Jasper was finally able to vent her frustration at what was symbolically the source of her perfectionism. And through that, found a more significant way to connect to Amethyst through the fact that being 'perfect' was impossible.

And then Garnet had decided to send Jasper on that mission, the mission that had ended up getting Jasper poofed. She knew that wasn't the plan and knew that it was really her own fault for getting poofed in the first place. She knew she should have been able to handle the two corrupted gem monsters.

But the fact that they were once like her threw her off. What had happened to them to make them that way?

She had been physically fighting them, but her mind couldn't stop asking questions, even now. What had happened, and was there a way to get them to their original form again?

She knew what corruption was, and she needed to know more. She wanted to help stop whatever had caused it, because seeing Jaspers that were once just like her be rendered to something so primitive and terrible both infuriated and frightened her. She felt a need to help them.

And that had derailed her ability to fight. Her mind was going one way while her body was going another. She felt disappointed in herself, and found herself hoping that Steven and Connie were okay.

They had to be.

Jasper found herself laughing. She could even see herself saying it out loud. Connie and Steven- she cared about them. They were her friends, and they wanted to help her.

She wanted to help them, too.

"So… have you decided, Jasper?" The same familiar, but still nameless voice, asked.

"Yeah," Jasper heard herself say, "I have."

She felt herself get up, and decided she was ready to come back.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thank you, SneezySoul, for being a beta reader for Jasper's Journey and correcting stuff! It means a lot.

I've got an appointment for next Wednesday about my hand, but it all goes back to my hand tremor and how I compensate for it... so it's probably a neurological thing that needs to be solved in order to stop the tremor and thus get rid of the need to compensate for it, which is causing my arm injuries. Just an update for you guys.

Thank you all so much, once again, for reading Jasper's Journey. There will be a Chapter Update next Friday.

-Jamitney


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33 - The Breaking Point

"Bismuth, uh, you can chill out here and… sleep, if you want," Steven said, gesturing to the couch in the beach house. The Crystal Gems had been sparring today and Steven had also shown Bismuth all of his own rituals.

"You know, I'll give it a try, I like these new Crystal Gem rituals!" Bismuth answered, grinning.

Steven found himself laughing as he scratched the back of his head, "You know, usually, when I meet a new Gem, they try to kill me and it takes me forever to become friends with them. Guess I mean I'm just really glad you're here."

"Me, too. Glad to have another chance. So, tomorrow, you gonna show me what you got on the battlefield?" Bismuth said, looking at him. Steven flinched a little.

"Oh, I mean, I-I would, but, most of my weapons are for defense," Steven said, summoning his shield, then continued, "Oh, except for one."

Lion was sleeping nearby, and Steven reached into Lion's mane to pull out his mother's sword. Bismuth gasped.

"Rose's sword," she said, "my finest piece of work."

"You… made this?" Steven asked, letting Bismuth hold the sword.

"You… really don't remember, huh?" Bismuth said, and Steven shook his head with an apologetic frown. He sat on the couch as Bismuth sat on the floor in front of the couch to his right, and she began to talk as if she were telling a story, "Rose Quartz changed my life," Bismuth continued, "I came to Earth thinking this was just another colony. Build another arena for important fighters to fight in, build another spire for important thinkers to think in, and then, I met her.

Just another Quartz soldier, made right here in the dirt, but she was _different!_ And she was different because she _decided_ to be. And she asked me what I wanted to build, and I'd never heard that before. And Gems never hear they can be anything other than what they are, but Rose opened our eyes."

Steven looked down, "Everybody always tells me how great Mom was. I just don't feel like I can ever measure up to her."

Bismuth laughed, "I can't believe this, that I'm the one giving the pep talk to Rose's…" she looked at Steven expectantly, "Rose's…?"

"Son," Steven answered, smiling a little.

"Right," Bismuth said, laughing a little at herself, "You _are_ different. That's what's so exciting. You don't _have_ to be like Rose Quartz. You can be someone even better. You can be _you_. And you know what? You deserve an _even better weapon_."

Bismuth and Steven had gone to the Forge, and for some reason Steven felt nervous. Bismuth held up Rose's sword, "I designed this sword for a fair fight. It can cut through a Gem's physical form in an instant! Destroying the body, but never the Gem."

"Cool," Steven said, watching Bismuth's physical narrative.

"But," Bismuth said, sheathing Rose's Sword, "Homeworld doesn't fight fair," She looked at Steven with a small smile, "That's why we need a different strategy." She winked and clicked her tongue.

"Oh," Steven said, and moved over so that Bismuth could get to a screw like shape in the floor. She shape-shifted her arm to fit the screw and turned it with her arm like it was a key. "Whoa."

The floor sank down to a different level of the Forge. Bismuth started to talk before they had reached that level.

"I was working on a weapon that would've been a game changer. Homeworld knows how to hit us where it counts, but we can do everything they can do, and better."

Steven looked around at the room. There were seven platforms including the one that he and Bismuth stood on; The outer six had humanoid or perhaps Gem shaped molds. He glanced back to Bismuth as she continued. "Here it is: the weapon that would've won the war."

The weapon was attached to her right arm. She swung it around in a flashy manner, and Steven felt impressed.

"Whoa! What is it?" he asked.

"I call it a Breaking Point," Bismuth said, proudly.

"Cool! What does it do?" he continued with another question.

"Just watch," Bismuth said, looking back at him, and then stomped on a particular part of the floor, letting out a "Hah!"

Lava was released from above the molds surrounding them, and it created six obsidian mold of what was probably supposed to represent a Gem.

Steven felt his nerves going on edge.

"Listen up, you Homeworld upper crusts!" Bismuth shouted, pointing the Breaking Point at the chest- the Gem of one of the molds, "We! are! the Crystal Gems!"

The point thrust forward, and a gaping hole was left where the mold's Gem once was, and it crumbled shortly after. Steven had flinched and gaped at what remained of the mold.

"So, what do you think?" Bismuth said after blowing on the heated point of the weapon, glancing towards him.

"You… shattered it," Steven said almost as a mumble.

"That's right!" Bismuth said, leaning towards him, "One shot from this baby will shatter any Gem in the galaxy, in the blink of an eye."

"Sh-shattering a Gem would destroy them forever," Steven said, looking down at himself and seeing his hand grab his shirt where his own Gem was.

"Exactly!" Bismuth said, taking Steven's hand from where it was over his Gem, "The Homeworld Gems won't be able to retake this planet when they're reduced to shards," she attached the Breaking Point to said arm, "There. Now, you look like you really mean Bismuth."

Steven found himself shivering as he looked at the Breaking Point on his arm.

"Now that's a real weapon!" Bismuth said, leaning on another of the obsidian representations of a Gem, "Why don't you give it a test run? This one's got your name on it."

Steven reluctantly stepped towards the mold.

"Wait, let me get out of your way." Bismuth jumped to the platform to Steven's left with a "Hooh!"

She crossed her arms as she watched Steven point the Breaking Point at the mold. Steven gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, bringing the Breaking Point closer to the representation of a Gem, and found that there were tears forming in his eyes.

"Ah… Bismuth? I can't use this…"

"What?" Bismuth asked, as if confused, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Why not?" -ASK

"Sh-Shattering Gems... wouldn't that make us the same as Homeworld?" Steven said, continuing to shake as he stepped backwards from the mold and looked up at Bismuth.

"Of course not! We'd be shattering them for the sake of our cause, to protect our allies, our friends, to free all Gems from Homeworld's tyranny!" Bismuth answered.

Steven looked down, "It's just…" he took a deep breath, "It's not what a Crystal Gem would do…"

Bismuth stomped towards Steven, and it was evident that she was angry. "Don't tell me what a Crystal Gem would do. Nobody's more "Crystal Gem" than I am," she began to attempt taking the weapon from Steven, "If you won't take it, I'll just use it myself."

"NO!" Steven shouted, stepping away from her, "No one is using it!" He threw the weapon to the side. "I'm sorry, Bismuth, but it's not right."

Bismuth looked shocked for a second, then her hands balled into fists, "That's exactly what she said…"

"What?" Steven said, confused and somewhat scared.

"That's exactly what _you_ said," she continued.

Steven began to feel immensely nervous, "Uh, um…"

"It _is_ you, isn't it, Rose?" Bismuth said, getting even angrier.

"Wh-Wha-What are you talking about?!" Steven said in fear, stumbling back.

"Don't lie to me!" Bismuth yelled, "You can't expect me to believe you now, after you lied about _everything_? You're lying about this new form, " she reached over and grabbed Steven by the collar of his shirt, "just like you lied to the others about ME!"

"But I didn't just disappear, _did I_? _You_ know what happened to me!" she looked Steven angrily in the eyes.

Steven closed his eyes and created his bubble shield, jumping back and escaping Bismuth's grasp, "Wait, Bismuth! This is just a big misunderstanding!"

"Liar!" Bismuth shouted, "Don't play games with me, Rose. We were right _here_. I offered you the secret to victory, and you _refused_. The Breaking Point would've changed everything."

"I didn't want to fight you," Bismuth's right hand turned into a hammer, "But you left me" - she swung it down at Steven- "No CHOICE!"

Steven jumped out of the way and landed on his back, then scrambled up and ran behind one of the molds.

"What type of leader doesn't give her army the best chance to win?!"

Bismuth cut the mold that Steven was hiding behind, and he managed to duck just in time.

"How could you value the gems of our enemies more than our own? And look what you've done without me, without the Breaking Point!"

She swung at Steven multiple times, and he summoned his shield to block each attack.

"You've LOST!"

She swung at Steven and he lunged to the side. She instead hit the statue behind him, breaking it into pieces.

She swung at him again and he managed to block her with his shield until it couldn't take the strain of Bismuth's arm, and dissipated as he was thrown slightly back and onto the ground.

"W-Wait! I'm not my mom!" Steven said in near desperation, and Bismuth hesitated, "I don't know what she did, but, I'm sure she didn't want to hurt you!"

"It's too late," Bismuth said, "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU ANYMORE!" she began to walk towards him and Steven cringed until he was able to summon his spiked bubble, and Bismuth jumped back.

"All that talk about how Gems could take control of their own identities," Steven felt his bubble disappear, "How we'd been convinced to ignore our own potential?" Steven fell to the ground; He was exhausted.

"Ah!" Steven said, his hands burning from the heat of the ground, "Hot!"

"But that's all it was, wasn't it?" Bismuth said, and her right arm shifted into a hammer, "Just TALK!" she destroyed another of the molds, and used the momentum of the swing to jump and hit Steven with her hammer arm. She managed to only reach the ground in front of him and he was sent flying. He quickly used his powers to float and avoid colliding into the wall and one of his flip-flops fell into the lava below him. He felt terrified.

"You should've listened to me, Rose!" Bismuth grabbed one of the obsidian statues, "I would've taken the war to Homeworld and shattered the Diamonds!" She lifted the statue from the ground and over her head, "I would have liberated _everyone_!" she threw the statue at Steven and he couldn't dodge and held out his hands as if it would help him block it, and was sent right into the wall. By the time Steven was able to lift the statue off of him, Bismuth already had the Breaking Point in her hands. Steven jumped and swung the statue towards Bismuth, shouting:

"BISMUTH, WATCH OUT!"

The statue collided with Bismuth, and while it only sent her back a few feet, the Breaking point went flying and landed, rolling in front of Steven and below his single raised foot as he landed.

Bismuth was leaning on the anvil as she looked towards Steven, who hopped towards her, holding the Breaking Point.

"Bismuth," Steven said, "This has to stop."

"So what're you gonna do," Bismuth said, evidently pained, "Shatter me?" she grabbed the end of the Breaking Point and pointed it right at her Gem, "Go AHEAD! Just DO IT!"

Steven paused, and tears formed in his eyes again, "NO! Even if we don't agree, nobody deserves this!"

Bismuth narrowed her eyes at him, and grabbed the Breaking Point from Steven as he stumbled back and over Rose's Sword. She raised the Breaking Point above Steven with murderous intent, and he did the only thing he could, grabbing his mother's sword and thrusting it through Bismuth.

"...You shoulda shattered me back then…" Bismuth said, looking away, "At least if I were in pieces, I wouldn't have to know how little I mattered to you…" she looked at Steven, "You didn't even tell 'em."

Steven felt his tears come again, and squinted as Bismuth continued.

"You bubbled me away and didn't ever tell your friends... My friends…" she said.

"I'm going to tell them! I'm gonna tell them everything." Steven said, tears falling.

Bismuth looked surprised, then made a sad smile, laughing a little, "Heheh… Then you really are better than her."

A tear fell from her eye before her form poofed, and her gem and the Breaking Point fell to the ground. Steven bubbled Bismuth's gem immediately, holding it in front of him.

He looked down at the Breaking Point, and after sheathing his mother's sword, he took the Breaking Point and threw it into the lava.

Steven warped back to the house, and saw Pearl reading a book, Garnet standing and looking out the window, and Amethyst lying upside down over the edge of the loft.

"Steven!" Pearl said, before noticing his condition.

"Oh, hey dude," Amethyst said, also before noticing his condition. The three turned and saw what he looked like and saw Bismuth's Gem in a bubble, and ran over to him.

Steven looked up at them as they voiced their concerns, and answered only with "There's something I need to tell you."

Steven sat on the porch as the Gems put Bismuth's bubbled gem in the Burning Room, and felt a hand on his back. He looked to his left to see Pearl, and then a hand on his head to his right. He saw that hand belonged to Garnet. Amethyst was on Pearl's left, and together the four looked towards the sky, mournful of Bismuth's state.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I can't believe I forgot to post a chapter whoops.

So here's the chapter that was supposed to go up last Friday.

I think there's another chapter that can go up on Friday, we'll see.

Thanks again for reading.

-Jamitney


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34 - Reformation

Jasper didn't quite remember the last time she had to reform. At least, she wasn't sure if she ever had such a bad headache from reforming. It had been a while.

The sense of touch was the first thing to start working again. She felt herself fall to the ground. Slowly, the rest of her senses started to work again. Her vision was the last thing to do so. She could hear someone, perhaps more than one person scrambling about, as if looking for something, and then she could see them.

That's when she started to freak out.

She wasn't anywhere that she recognized. The wood wasn't that of the Beachhouse, nor was it the wood of the underside of the porch. It was far too dark. The people that were scrambling about, or the person, was Peridot. The other person that was in this new environment was none other than Lapis Lazuli.

That's why she started to freak out, and Jasper jumped to her feet and stumbled backwards, tripping over something and falling to the ground yet again. Something popped and she heard a crunch.

"Jeez, Jasper, I didn't know you could be so jumpy," Peridot remarked, finding whatever it was that she was looking for. She walked over and sat down with Lapis Lazuli, with a device Jasper remembered Steven calling a laptop.

"Why am I here?!" Jasper asked as soon as she could muster up the courage to speak, "Where _is_ here?!"

"You're at the barn," Peridot said, matter-of-factly, "This is where Lapis and I have been staying since either of us decided to stay on Earth."

"We'll explain soon," Lapis answered, "We just need to tell-"

"But why am I here?!" Jasper asked again, "Where's Steven and Connie? Why aren't they here?!"

"We'll get to that, just calm down for a second, jeez," Peridot said, "By the way, nice hair."

Jasper paused for a second, and realized what Peridot meant. She felt for her hair and realized it was significantly shorter than it had been. She figured that was a choice she had made while reforming- her hair had been getting in her way a bit.

She heard a ringing sound from the laptop computer, and Jasper watched it suspiciously. Soon after the ringing ended, she heard a familiar voice coming from the laptop.

"Morning," said a groggy Steven from the laptop. Lapis scrambled over to the laptop, sitting next to Peridot. "Wait- did Jasper-"

"Yes," Lapis interrupted.

"Shoot! Hold on- whoa!"

The call abruptly ended, and Lapis and Peridot looked at each other.

After a moment, Jasper moved herself to see what she had fallen on, and found that she had popped open and crushed a bag of cheesy puffs. Luckily for her, none of the orange residue had actually gotten onto her- at least not that she could notice. She sat down again, but this time, not on a bag of cheesy puffs. She then noticed the mountain of cheesy puff bags just beyond her.

"What the heck… there's so many…"

Jasper had a feeling that she knew who had gathered most of those bags.

The barn door burst open and Steven ran into the barn, "Jasper! You're back!"

He ran over to her and jumped up to give her a hug. Jasper initially felt extremely awkward about returning the gesture, but she just felt glad that Steven, and presumably Connie, were okay.

It was a strange way to feel about someone who months ago you were willing to destroy.

After Steven had stopped giving Jasper a hug, he looked up at her, "So is everything okay?"

"I mean… physically, yes," Jasper said, nearly in a mumble, "I'm just wondering… why am I here, with uh… them?"

"Oh, uh," Steven replied, looking over at Peridot and Lapis.

"Steven found another Crystal Gem in that Lion of his," Lapis answered, "and she… probably wasn't going to take too kindly to us being there."

"It wasn't too long ago that we all were still aligned with Homeworld," Peridot continued, "And so Lapis and I went back to the barn."

"But we knew that if she- that Crystal Gem, figured out who you were, you'd be in deep trouble, so we brought you with us." Lapis finished.

Jasper paused for a long while before responding, "…Why would you do that?"

Peridot shrugged, but Lapis Lazuli just looked towards Steven, and Jasper started to understand.

"Yeah- and, uh," Steven finally spoke, "About Bismuth…"

Steven began to tell the three gems about what had happened the previous night with Bismuth, and how she had made a weapon called the Breaking Point that could shatter any gem. The word shatter always made Jasper shiver, and she felt it wasn't just because she was a gem, otherwise it would have been a gut reaction that they all shared. She wondered why she was the only one who had such a visible reaction.

"So… you bubbled her?" Peridot asked, and Steven nodded.

"And the Breaking Point…"

"I threw it into the lava… no one should ever be able to use that sort of thing," Steven answered, "Shattering gems… that's wrong… no one deserves that."

 _No one deserves that._

Jasper felt her headache returning, more powerful than ever, and she clutched her head and let out a grunt of pain that everyone else noticed. She could hear Steven's concern but couldn't decipher the specific words, and then everything went black.

A pink palanquin. That's what Jasper felt herself running towards, maneuvering through and defeating Crystal Gems at a rate likely unheard of.

 _What…_

She was fueled by feelings normally foreign to her when at a battlefield. Things like anxiety, worry, and terror.

 _What am I running towards…_

She got to the palanquin quickly, but before she could see what was about to happen, her vision went white. The only glimpse she got was of two figures, one massive, and one only slightly smaller than her, in battle.

And then Jasper heard the same familiar voice.

 _Are you sure… that you want to see this?_

The headache began to fade, and Jasper was able to see the barn again. She could see Steven, Peridot, and Lapis looking at her. Were they concerned? Jasper could guess that Steven and Peridot would be, but Lapis Lazuli?

She again asked herself why Lapis Lazuli had bothered to bring her to the barn for her own safety.

"Are you okay?" Jasper heard Steven ask, and she looked at him.

"Yeah… I'm fine… I just…" Jasper shook her head, "Was I… remembering something?"

"What?" Steven asked, "What did you remember?"

"…Fear," Jasper answered, "I was… running towards something tall… and pink… and I was afraid… not for myself, but for someone else…"

Steven frowned, "Can you remember who that was?"

"…No," Jasper answered, "I wish I could. I feel like I keep hearing their voice…"

A light flashed from the outside. The weather was overcast, and the light felt ominous. They all looked towards the open barn doors, and Peridot froze before scrambling to the side.

"Oh god, _they're here!_ "

 _Is that…_ Jasper froze, "That's… a roaming eye?!"

The four of them scrambled to the side of the door and Steven asked, "Why are they here?"

"Steven, I called Yellow Diamond _a clod_! I'm public enemy number one!" Peridot was curled up into a ball. The light went over the roof and she squeaked. Steven and Lapis shushed her and they all stood in silence.

That was when Jasper noticed there was a huge gaping hole in the barn, covered only halfway by a tarp.

The light shown on the four of them, and it was clear that the ship was a roaming eye.

"Run!" Steven said, and the four of them ran outside only for the roaming eye to fly over them and block their path, floating above and in front of them.

"Oh gosh, this is it," Peridot said, "They're going to wipe my precious grin off the face of this planet!"

She had grabbed Steven's arm and was almost hiding behind him.

"S-Stay behind me!" Steven said, "I'll protect you- huh?"

Jasper watched as Lapis walked in front of them, and that was the only time she was able to notice the pool of water to the side of the barn. She had a feeling she knew where this was going, and as much as she didn't want to see it happen, she watched as the water in said pool formed a giant arm. The hand flicked the roaming eye over and slammed it into the ground, creating two large diamond shapes.

"Holy smokes," Peridot and Jasper said almost in unison.

"STEVEN!"

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl ran over to them. Jasper figured they somehow found out what was happening over there.

"What th- Holy smokes," Amethyst repeated what Peridot and Jasper had said prior to their appearance.

"Are you alright? We saw the ship and came as fast as we could," Pearl said, frantically.

"Yeah… I'm okay. Lapis saved us," Steven answered, "But… it looks like Homeworld really has it out for Peridot."

Peridot started to tiptoe back to the barn before Lapis spoke up.

"Peridot, are you okay?" she asked, and Peridot reluctantly nodded.

The group then heard a sound from the ship and collectively gasped. A small circle opened from the ship, and a red hand reached out to lift itself out. A Ruby looked around, and almost saw them before the group could scramble back into the barn.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35 - Hit the Diamond

"Was that a Ruby?" Steven asked as the group hid in the barn.

"More like Rubies," Amethyst remarked, "What are they doing here?"

"I told you, they're after me!" Peridot squeaked from underneath a box, "This is the end of the line!"

"You really weren't kidding," Jasper remarked.

"I disobeyed a direct order from Yellow Diamond _and_ called her a _clod_ … to her face…"

"Oh honestly you call everyone a clod," Pearl riposted with a roll of the eyes.

"Yes," Peridot answered, "But not everyone has command over all the armies of Homeworld waiting for the word to _shatter_ me!"

 _Ugh,_ Jasper felt the faintest hint of a headache, _What is with my head today…_

"Peridot, we won't let them get you!" Steven said in his usual confident and cheery tone as he lifted the box off of Peridot

Peridot was curled into a ball and sorrily answered, "Haven't I caused you enough trouble?"

"Don't worry Peridot," the voice of reason that was Garnet finally came up, "It's our sworn duty to protect anything that calls this planet home. And that includes clods like you."

"…That's my word," Peridot said, her voice gaining a hint of hope.

 _Does that mean she has a plan?_ Jasper thought, glancing out the barn opening at the Rubies.

Garnet turned to everyone else, "Listen up, everyone, I have a plan… or should I say, _we_ have a plan."

She chuckled as the form of Garnet changed as Ruby and Sapphire defused. Jasper felt a pang of guilt as she remembered forcing Garnet to defuse when she, Peridot, and Lapis as an informant/captive first came to Earth. That de-fusion in comparison to this one was incredibly brutal… Jasper decided not to think about it.

"Hello everyone," Sapphire said, and Pearl and Amethyst were first to be surprised at the two's presence.

"Ruby, Sapphire!" the two exclaimed as Steven ran up to them.

"HUGS!" Steven said, hugging the two.

"Hello Steven!" Sapphire said in response as she and Ruby hugged Steven back.

"So, what's the plan?" Amethyst asked, and Sapphire looked to Ruby.

"You've got this," she said, kissing Ruby on the cheek, "just act casual."

"Yeah," Ruby said, bumping her fist into her other palm, "Casual."

The plan was for Ruby to fool the other Rubies into believing she was in their group the entire time, and somehow it worked, much to Jasper's surprise. However, that spree of luck wasn't to last as Ruby ran back to the barn.

"They want to search the barn!" Ruby said.

"We heard," Steven answered.

"We saw," Pearl said.

"I'm so scared!" Peridot added.

Amethyst grabbed a baseball bat from the box that Peridot had emptied in order to hide in and held it over her head, "Let's AMBUSH them!"

"Like that's going to work," Jasper mumbled.

"No," Sapphire, the true voice of reason, answered, "No one needs to get hurt. Let's be sensible."

"What do I do?" Ruby said, biting her fingers.

 _She's really clueless without Sapphire._ Jasper thought, _I suppose it's an interesting experience to be able to have someone to depend on that much… but it's a real disadvantage when you aren't together…_

"Just go out there and tell them that this is a place where humans live," Sapphire answered, and Ruby voiced her concern that she didn't want to go alone. Steven volunteered to go with her, which Jasper knew wasn't exactly what Ruby had meant, but thankfully she rolled with it.

Several minutes passed before Steven and Ruby returned, explaining what had happened and that they now had to play a human game called baseball.

"Baseball?!" the majority of the group exclaimed.

Ruby hit her forehead with her hand and Sapphire spoke again, "I… saw that this was a possibility, though I am surprised that this is the path we are taking…"

 _She's awfully reliant on that future vision of hers._ Jasper thought.

Jasper's thoughts were interrupted by a whistle blown by Steven, who began to speak, "Alright, my human baseball knowledge will lead us to victory! Let's just go out there and pretend that we're humans. Except Peridot. You stay here and hide in the barn."

"O…okay," Peridot answered, and Steven looked over at Lapis Lazuli.

"Lapis?" Steven asked, and Lapis snorted in restrained laughter.

"This plan sucks," Lapis said, which meant she would be participating.

Steven looked over at Jasper, as if to ask the same question, and Jasper shook her head.

"You've gotten really lucky in fooling those Rubies this much…" Jasper said, "…even though they are Rubies… but I'm not going to be able to pass as a human. I'll stay here, too. I'm sure you all can handle it."

"Alright," Steven said, "Let's go play some baseball!"

After Steven, Amethyst, Pearl, Sapphire, and Lapis Lazuli had disguised themselves as humans, they went outside to play baseball with the Rubies, leaving Peridot and Jasper in the barn.

"Do you think that this is gonna work?" Peridot asked, still scared.

"Heck if I know," Jasper remarked, "I have a feeling something's going to go wrong, but we'll have to wait and see."

The two gems watched the game of baseball, and Jasper quickly realized that Ruby and Sapphire were not used to being separated, nor did they work well independently. It didn't surprise her, but it didn't help their situation much at all.

"They're gonna lose," Peridot said with a grimace, "Oh gosh, this is going to be terrible…"

Jasper sighed, "Can't argue with you there."

A Ruby had broken a bat, and Steven returned to the barn to get a replacement. Jasper was surprised at how quickly the Homeworld Rubies had adapted to the game.

"H-ey, how's it going?" Peridot asked, "Are we winning?"

"Umm…" Steven looked back towards Ruby and Sapphire, where the former was teaching the latter how to swing the bat, "Well… haha… We're doing just fine," Steven said, "Everything's going to be A-OK…"

 _He's terrible at lying._ Jasper thought.

"You're lying to me!" Peridot responded as Steven fled with the new bat.

"To make you feel better!" Steven answered.

Peridot paused before responding, "Wow, thanks!"

Jasper had a feeling there was some unknown connotation to that phrase specifically to Peridot, and decided to ask.

"Where did 'Wow, thanks!' come from?" Jasper asked, and Peridot looked over at her.

"What do you mean? It's just like saying 'thank you'," Peridot answered with another question.

"I mean… I dunno, you could've just said 'thank you'. It seemed kinda deliberate, especially for you," Jasper answered.

"Well… when someone does something nice for you, or gives you something, you say 'wow, thanks!'. Steven told me that," Peridot answered.

"So it's just… what you say?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah," Peridot rolled her eyes, "Of course you would ask such an arbitrary question…"

Jasper felt herself smirk as she remembered all the questions she had asked Peridot on their way to earth, both for the sake of curiosity and also to annoy her.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Peridot said after a bit, and Jasper glanced over to the small green gem.

"Sure," Jasper answered.

"So you were poofed… trying to save Steven and Connie, right?" Peridot asked, and Jasper nodded, "It's been around two earth months since he first found you under Funland… what do you think of him now? Are you two friends?"

"Well," Jasper said, thinking for a bit, "I guess we are."

"That quickly?" Peridot asked in surprise, "I thought you'd be a lot more stubborn since he's got that gem…"

"Come to think of it, if it were anyone other than the Quartz Child, you'd probably be right," Jasper answered, "There's just something about him… that makes you want to trust him, I guess."

"…Yeah, I get that," Peridot said after pausing.

"…What's happening out there?" Jasper asked, squinting a bit, and then her eyes went wide, "Oh… shoot,"

Sapphire had hit the ball, and it had been a home run, but in her and Ruby's joy they had fused again. Jasper shook her head, "They're…"

"Oh no… this is _not_ good!" Peridot said as the five Homeworld Rubies fused together, predictably to fight the Crystal Gems now that the ruse was up. Jasper was surprised as she saw Peridot run past her.

"Wait!" Peridot said, soon after falling flat on her face, and then running forward again on both her hands and legs. It was oddly endearing looking, if it wasn't such a tense situation. "Don't hurt them! Wait, please!"

She finally reached the group and stood in front of the quintuple Ruby fusion, "It's me you're after, right? I'm not gonna stand by and let my friends fight my battles!"

Jasper watched from the barn and listened.

"Aww, Peri loves us!" Steven said.

"Are you the Peridot assigned to the _failed_ Earth mission?" the giant Ruby fusion asked, and Peridot looked as nervous as ever.

"Not sure if 'failed' would be the right word to-"

" _Where is Jasper?_ "

Jasper flinched.

"You're looking for… Jasper?" Peridot asked, surprised.

"Correct!" the Ruby fusion answered.

"Wait, but… I'm the one who betrayed the mission, who called Yellow Diamond a clod, the new leader of the Crystal Gems?"

 _What?_ Jasper asked herself.

"What?" Pearl asked the same thing.

"Tell us where Jasper is, now!" the Rubies said, and Peridot shuddered.

Steven looked to Jasper and Jasper shook her head. She wanted to help, but she didn't want to go back. She couldn't, not at this stage.

"Uh… Jasper… she's…" Peridot mumbled.

"NEPTUNE!"

Everyone looked towards Steven, "She's on the planet Neptune!" Steven said, pointing to the sky.

It was silent for too long before the Ruby fusion answered.

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" they said and the fusion de-fused back into the five Rubies.

The Rubies counted themselves and finally corrected their mistake, and they returned to their ship. It rose up and flew into the sky, then distorting itself into space travel.

Jasper stood up and walked back to the group, "Wow."

"Man," Amethyst remarked, "Rubies are dumb."

Jasper looked down at Steven, "…Neptune?"

"Sorry, it was the best I could come up with," Steven said.

"…Well, at least that'll delay them for a while," Pearl said, "We should all head back. I think I've had enough close calls today."

"For once, I can agree with that," Amethyst said.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys. I had a rough week but finally the treatment for my hand/arm situation seems to be having an effect!

Also, I'm putting this chapter up early because I have a lot going on tomorrow, so enjoy the early chapter. I can't confirm if there will be a chapter next Friday since I don't know if I'll be able to finish the next chapter in time. While my hands are getting better nothing is ever certain with these sorts of things.

Thanks again for the patience and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36 - Camp Pining Hearts

The Ruby scare wasn't a great time, but what was worse was that it was decided that Jasper was going to stay in the barn, despite all of her efforts to make the underside of the porch seem significantly more appealing.

The real reason, Jasper later found, was that Steven was about to go on a trip to a place called Empire City, and he wasn't going to be around the beach house. Since Pearl was joining him, and since Garnet and Amethyst were going to be on at least one mission while they were gone, the group (spare Jasper and, likely, a certain blue gem) had decided it would be best for Jasper to stay in the barn with Peridot and Lapis Lazuli. It had become something of a mess in a short amount of time, and Jasper wasn't sure how she hadn't noticed it. Then again, she'd been paying much more attention to her own thoughts than to the environment around her, not including the people and gems.

Jasper knew she'd just have to accept her fate, whatever it was going to be. And so, for a weekend, she was staying in the barn with Peridot and Lapis Lazuli. She decided to keep to her own small area of the barn where all the cheesy puffs had been put, and attempt to keep to herself and not get in anyone's way. As much as many of the gems were beginning to accept her into their lives, Jasper was still extremely wary of Lapis Lazuli, even though it seemed like she slept for about 75% of the day. It wasn't easy to forget what had happened between them.

Since Lapis slept most the day, Jasper thought she could probably just eat and sleep the weekend away, or something like that.

Peridot had other plans.

"Pssst! Jasper!"

"Wake up!"

"…why…"

It was the middle of the first night there when Peridot decided to wake Jasper up.

"There is… this very cool show I want to show you!" Peridot answered.

Jasper sat up, rubbing her eyes, "Show what?"

"It's like… you know what a television is, right?"

"Yeah, we have better ones on Homeworld…" Jasper answered.

"It's something shown on that. Come on, the TV's in the truck!"

Jasper wasn't sure how the truck managed to stay lodged in place, but soon enough she and Peridot were seated in the back of a pickup truck looking at a somewhat small television screen as Peridot dug through a box labeled VCR tapes on one side by someone's handwriting and 'CPH' on another side in Peridot's handwriting.

"Aaaand… here it is!" Peridot said, holding up a VCR tape that said 'Camp Pining Hearts Season 1' on it.

"…Camp Pining Hearts? The heck is that?" Jasper asked.

"It's a television show about a bunch of humans in a summer camp split into colored teams and competing for points during the summer… there's a ton of interpersonal character relationships and it has a lot more depth than it seems, trust me."

"…You're going to make me watch this, aren't you," Jasper asked, and Peridot nodded, "All right… let's see what this is."

Camp Pining Hearts was what Jasper could recognize as something that could have a lot of depth if one really thought about it, but by itself was just a cheesy story about humans fighting over one another. There wasn't a point and the rewards for winning were essentially bragging rights, so what became more interesting was Peridot's ranting about the show. Jasper knew the show wasn't truly that deep, but Peridot had decided it was, and stubborn as she was, made it so.

They were about halfway through season 2 when Peridot finally finished explaining and showing examples of why Percy and Pierre would wreck the camp if they were to be together. Jasper couldn't help but scoff at that.

"All right," Jasper remarked, "So… they're good at the actual physical aspect of the competitions, but have you considered the other aspects?"

"What other aspects?" Peridot asked.

"Sure, most of the competitions are physical, like the three legged race and whatever… but you haven't taken bonus points into account," Jasper answered, "Sure, the victor gets 10 points for their team, but there are 5 point prizes for all sorts of things, including innovation."

"Who cares about the bonus points? Efficiency is how you win in that camp, and those two as a pair create the best and most efficient competing team. What's your point?" Peridot asked.

"Bonus points add up, remember," Jasper said, "Last season, the red team won the most competitions, but the blue team won overall for all the bonus point prizes they were able to get."

"…that's true," Peridot answered.

"So… while Percy and Pierre seem to be the most efficient, how about the team that seems to be the most innovative?" Jasper asked.

"That would be… hmm…" Peridot thought to herself, then turned to another box, "Hold on, I need to do some calculations…"

This resulted in them watching all of season one twice more before Peridot finally figured out what Jasper was trying to get her to figure out.

"Oh!" Peridot said, "So… while Percy and Pierre got the most 'efficiency' points, Pamela and Patricia scored highest in innovation! Those two were the reason the blue team actually won this season!"

"Yeah," Jasper remarked, "That."

She didn't think it needed to be all so scientific, but Peridot was the type of person who needed proof and facts over intuition.

"So… then which pair is the best overall?" Peridot asked to herself, but Jasper decided to chime in anyways.

"Both," Jasper remarked.

"Both?" Peridot asked, "How can it be both?"

"The teams aren't made of twos," Jasper answered, "They're made of six people. Blue team, Red team, Green team, and Yellow team all have six people. If a team had all four- Percy, Pierre, Pamela, and Patricia, and two other people who weren't negative contributors such as Paulette, that team would dominate the competition."

"Huh…" Peridot remarked, "I wonder how each camper marks up… which duo is best for what characteristic…"

"Sounds like you've got a lot of work to do," Jasper remarked.

"Yeah!" Peridot said, "Jeez, Lapis never asked questions to challenge my observations like this! I thought it was just an annoying habit of yours to question everything."

Jasper shrugged, "That's a way you can see it."

"Can you help me isolate the characteristics that contribute to victory in the competitions?" Peridot asked, "I think we can figure it out faster if we work together."

"It's not like I have anything else to do," Jasper remarked, "So yeah, sure."

Jasper had a feeling she had no clue what she was getting herself into.


	37. Chapter 37

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Why did I get another notification on Chapter 37 of Jasper's Journey?

I messed up on the initial version of this chapter. I had stated at some point a fact that I recently realized was entirely false and I needed to rectify this. So... you get almost 800 more words in this chapter, so please re-read those to understand where Jasper and Lapis actually stand at this point. Thanks so much, and sorry for having to do this! See you all tomorrow for Chapter 38.

* * *

Chapter 37 - Elephant in the Room

Jasper had fought in several battles she could call exhausting, even though she was a gem and technically didn't need to sleep. She never thought she'd be able to compare a television show to an exhausting battle.

But here she was.

Jasper had finally escaped the discussion once she and Peridot had finally decided on the ultimate tetrad of campers. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping, but she felt it hadn't been long and she was feeling uncomfortably restless.

She knew she'd know soon enough, but Peridot was taking a rare nap and Jasper knew it was probably nearly the morning at this point. Being careful to not wake Peridot, or anyone else, up, Jasper grabbed a couple bags of cheesy puffs and snuck out of the barn.

The barn was on a hill just outside of beach city, and so the ocean was just visible from various high points, whether it was atop the silo now just jutting out of the side of the barn or the barn roof itself.

Jasper decided to get atop the silo to get a better look at the sun rising. She'd never say it out loud except maybe to Steven, but the sun rising was one of Jasper's favorite things about earth in particular. It was hard to find a planet with such abundance of organic life, and it only enhanced the beauty of it. She was wary of the fact that Lapis Lazuli hadn't been in the barn and had likely slipped out at some point, and Jasper didn't know where the blue gem could be, but she wasn't on top of the roof or the silo, and that was a relief.

The only problem Jasper had with the sunrise was that it also reminded her of what had happened during another sunrise.

She decided to try and ignore it, but she couldn't. Not when Lapis Lazuli could be anywhere.

She didn't sh… destroy me on the spot back when I was living under the porch. Jasper thought, And she asked why I didn't attack the Quartz Child then and there…

Jasper shook her head with a chuckle, But I know why. He was concerned, and didn't attack me when he had the chance… and it was nice to know someone was concerned about you… even though it was my enemy at the time…

He cared, and I really needed that at that moment. I can't believe I'm even thinking this.

Jasper watched as the sun continued to rise.

They see this every morning, huh… Jasper found herself smiling. Every bad thing that's happened to me here was during the sunrise. But… still, I like watching it. Besides… not every sunrise means a bad thing is going to happen.

"Jasper."

Jasper jumped at that voice and almost fell off the silo. She had actually wanted to fall off of the silo to avoid the owner of said voice, but her arm was caught before she could really start falling.

Eye contact itself is extremely awkward if you don't intend to make eye contact. It's worse when its eye contact with someone who may have every right in the book to destroy you, or who you might have a right to destroy, but have no chance of even coming close to doing so.

But here Jasper was, making eye contact with Lapis Lazuli, who had, for some reason, stopped her from falling off of the silo.

"We need to talk," Lapis Lazuli said, somehow keeping a straight face. Jasper couldn't get herself to immediately respond with anything other than a slow nod.

Jasper was burning through the two bags of cheesy puffs she had brought. She remembered Steven calling this sort of thing 'stress eating'.

The name fit the habit, and she found herself wishing she had the rest of her bags of cheesy puffs as the ones she currently had ran out.

"Listen, I…" Lapis Lazuli began, "I get that you're anxious whenever I'm around, but we really need to talk about what happened with Malachite if you're going to stick around here."

"Right, uh, but before that," Jasper stammered, getting ready to jump off the silo in an attempt to escape, "I'm gonna… go get more of these cheesy puffs."

"Cheesy puffs- Jasper, wait-"

Jasper had already jumped off the silo and was making a beeline for the woods instead of the barn. It didn't take Lapis Lazuli long to catch up to her.

"The cheesy puffs are in the barn," Lapis Lazuli deadpanned, and Jasper felt that if she could sweat she certainly would be.

"Yup, right," Jasper answered, changing from a fast-walk to a run into the woods. She knew that she would never be able to outrun Lapis Lazuli, who could fly, an ability Jasper would always be envious of.

"Jasper, why are you running away? We need to talk about this-"

"I always run in the woods every day."

"No you don't!"

"I do now," Jasper knew this was ridiculous and probably futile, but she couldn't face Lapis Lazuli. Not now. Not like this.

The two were already deep into the woods at this point. Jasper knew she wasn't going to get away. She knew this conversation was going to happen, but it wasn't going to stop her from trying to delay it for as long as possible. She couldn't face Lapis Lazuli like this. Not now.

"Dang it, Jasper! You can't run from this forever!" Jasper heard Lapis Lazuli getting angrier and had a brief thought to stop, but fear and adrenaline kept her going.

"This isn't you!"

Finally, Jasper stopped.

Ten months of being stuck with Lapis Lazuli in a fusion meant that the two knew what the other was like far better than either wished they did. It wasn't like Jasper to run from her problems, but that had changed.

Why had it changed?

"Listen, I don't like having to talk to you about this either, but if you're going to be here, this needs to-"

"Not now."

"Why not now?" Lapis Lazuli continued to interrogate Jasper, "Why is now any worse than any other time?"

"I can't do this right now," Jasper answered. She knew she was shaking. This really wasn't like her.

"If not now, then when?!" Lapis Lazuli said. She was audibly angered, but Jasper couldn't do much but bear it, "We need to talk, Jasper. I can't be around you if we don't!"

"You think I don't know that? Do you think it's easy to be around you?!" Jasper shouted, spinning around to look at Lapis Lazuli. She stood there, hands balled into fists, and slightly less stoic than usual. She wore the same expression Jasper had seen enough of.

Jasper felt her composure, or what little she had left of it, break. First her arms gave into gravity, and then her knees. She covered her face, looking down at the ground, with her hands. It was the only thing she could do to hide even a little bit of the overwhelming weakness she felt.

And again, just as it had been during those ten months under the sea, Jasper lost all control of the situation, and Lapis Lazuli had all of it.

"Just get rid of me. It'd be easier on both of us," Jasper said, and realized very quickly she was crying. "I- I can't do this. Not now. You know why."

Jasper heard a sigh that she first thought was of exasperation, but soon realized it was more out of exhaustion.

"I'm not going to shatter you, so stop being so scared that I'm going to. I'm not."

"Why?" Jasper asked, "Don't you have every reason to?"

"Do you still think Malachite was your fault? That all that suffering was because of you?" Lapis Lazuli asked, "Sure, there are reasons I could shatter you, but that would mean I haven't changed since… since Malachite."

Jasper glanced up at Lapis Lazuli. She was looking down and to the side, one hand holding her forehead not as if she had a headache, but more because she seemed to be disappointed. She looked down again.

She's… she's not disappointed in me- she's disappointed in herself. Jasper realized.

"We both had our own reasons," Lapis Lazuli said, "But all Malachite was… was just a way for me to take out my frustrations on someone. On you. And that was wrong. I need you to understand that."

"You did it to protect Steven," Jasper managed to retort, although weakly.

"I didn't do it to protect Steven. The entire thing… you would have been defeated if I hadn't agreed to fuse with you. Malachite made it worse for him. For all of them…" Lapis Lazuli answered, almost trailing off before her voice picked up again, "The only reason we became Malachite… was so that I could hurt you to make myself feel better, and that was horrible of me. I'm sorry."

Jasper couldn't come up with a response. She was right. If Lapis Lazuli had refused Jasper's request to fuse, Jasper would have been defeated right then and there. There really was only one reason Lapis Lazuli could have wanted to fuse with her, and it had nothing to do with helping Jasper.

Jasper wanted to be angry, but she couldn't find it in herself to lash out at Lapis Lazuli. She couldn't get herself to do anything at all.

…I really want to hurt her, to get revenge, but at the same time… Jasper thought, I'm scared. Even if I tell myself to try, every part of me just seems to hold me back…

Just like it was when we were Malachite.

"I know that a simple apology isn't going to solve everything or anything," Lapis Lazuli continued, "But I wanted you to understand. Malachite was terrible. And that wasn't your fault. It was mine. And I'm working on it. I'm never going to take out my anger on you, or anyone else, like that again. I'm not going to hurt you."

"How can you… just… say that?" Jasper asked, "How can I trust that you're going to keep your word? You know what you put me through."

"I-"

"I thought I was strong," Jasper said, "But because of you I feel like… I'm nothing on my own. And you… can just apologize like that? You can just… try to move on?"

"I know it's not that simple," Lapis Lazuli said, "But… I have to move forward. We both need to move forward. There's no other way to go."

"You destroyed who I thought I was," Jasper said, looking up at Lapis Lazuli, who flinched, "Everything I was supposed to be… everything I was, just…" Jasper looked down at the ground again, "…gone in an instant…"

"I'm sorry," Lapis Lazuli said again, sounding pained in her words.

"You…" Jasper started to stand up again, "…you can move on, but what about me? I lost everything I was because of Malachite- because of you! I can't just… forgive you for all of that!"

The two stood there, Jasper feeling as if she was daring Lapis Lazuli to make eye contact, and Lapis Lazuli being entirely unable to do so. As if Jasper had finally gotten a semblance of control over the situation for once, although she knew it was only a semblance.

"I know," Lapis Lazuli said weakly, "I'm… I'm not asking for you to forgive me. You don't have to. You shouldn't."

"But part of me wants to. And that's…" Jasper sat down again, a hand holding her head and covering her face, "That's the worst part. I should hate you. But everything… everything just always goes back to those fifteen minutes where, for once… I was in control of Malachite and I was… I was powerful. I was what I was supposed to be. But even that wasn't enough. They still… they defeated us. And every time I think about it, it's always…"

Jasper sighed, disappointed in herself. "If only I hadn't been fighting you. If only we could have worked together. I keep blaming myself, even though you keep saying that it's not my fault. You… were in control. You can move on. I can't, because everything that kept me going was left behind once Malachite was defeated. I lost my purpose because of you."

Lapis Lazuli was upset, but the expression she had previously wore, the one that reminded Jasper painfully of their time as Malachite, was gone. Any hint of anger Lapis Lazuli had, Jasper knew, was directed at the powerful water gem herself. She sat down only a couple of feet across from Jasper.

"I'll never really know how much I hurt you," Lapis Lazuli said after what felt like several quiet minutes had passed, "And apologizing isn't ever going to be enough. I don't know what I can do to make up for what I've done."

"I'm not sure if there's anything you can do," Jasper answered.

"I don't think there is," Lapis Lazuli replied, solemnly, "I'm sorry. I feel like apologizing is all I can do."

"Heh," Jasper said, "At least you're trying to do something, I guess."

"But it's not enough," Lapis Lazuli said.

"…It's going to take a while," Jasper said after a moment, "But… that's fine. Sorry is a start."

"What?" Lapis Lazuli asked, surprised. She hadn't thought she'd made an inch of progress in the conversation up until now.

"We got to talk," Jasper said, "and as… as scared as I was- as I still am, of you, of this conversation… I'm glad we got to talk about it. I'm glad I got to talk to someone about how I felt about it."

"I'm glad, too."

Jasper finally looked up. Lapis Lazuli was holding out a hand to her, offering to help her up.

"Come on, let's go back. Peridot's probably freaking out."

Jasper nodded, and took Lapis Lazuli's hand.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thanks again to Sneezy Soul for being the beta reader for this, especially on such short notice, and thanks to luciayshadow for helping me realize my mistake of stating that Lapis fused with Jasper to protect Steven! This wasn't the case at all since Steven and the Crystal Gems would have been in a better situation if the fusion had never happened! I was trying really hard to get this chapter right, which is why it warrants all of the additional 800~ words that ended up being added in order to rectify this mistake! Thanks again and see you all tomorrow for Chapter 38!


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38 - Steven's Dream

It had been a while since Jasper had been at the beach house. She'd rarely ever been inside of it, but now that she had become apparently trustworthy to many of the Crystal Gems they weren't as wary of her as they had been. It was here, the previous day, where Steven had introduced Jasper to manga. And it was here, right now, that she was reading the tenth volume of Sailor Moon. It was something to do.

It was nighttime, and Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were on what Jasper assumed to be a mission. Steven had been with his dad, Greg, watching a movie, and was now sleeping in his bed in the loft above and behind where Jasper was lounging on the couch reading Sailor Moon. Peridot and Lapis Lazuli were still at the barn. In all, it seemed like it was going to be a quiet night.

Jasper had just started reading volume thirteen when she heard a creak and a sniffle. She paused for a moment, before standing up and looking over at where Steven was. He was awake, sitting up, and crying more than Jasper thought a human was capable of crying.

"What happened?" Jasper asked, dropping the book.

"…I dunno," Steven said, "I… my dream wasn't sad… it was the same one…" he paused, then something seemed to dawn on him, "I think I need to text Connie."

That morning, Connie came over. It had been the first time Jasper had seen Connie in a while, but she and Steven were intent on finding a specific object in a journal Connie had picked up from the library. She and Steven were on the couch, and Jasper's curiosity got the better of her as she joined them.

"So," Connie began, "When you told me about your dream, I thought it sounded familiar." She flipped through the pages of the journal and came to a specific drawing. Once Jasper saw it, she froze.

"Wait," Jasper said, "I know that. I've seen that… I've been there!"

"You have?" Steven and Connie both asked, and Jasper nodded. Steven started to look excited.

"Then we've got to go to this… palahn-qwin." Steven said.

"Actually, it's pronounced palan-keen," Connie corrected in her usual fashion.

The three heard the zing of the warp pad, and Steven grinned, "It's the Gems! They probably know something about this thing!"

Steven and Connie got up and rushed over to the warp pad. Jasper slowly followed.

"Yo," she head Amethyst say, before Steven rushed through his words.

"Hey do you guys know anything about this thing?" Steven asked, and Jasper got there in time to see Amethyst take a closer look.

"Hmm… Steven, you deserve to hear the truth. And the truth is… I have no idea what this thing is, I've never seen it before in my life," Amethyst said, and Jasper found herself nearly snorting.

Pearl stepped forward to take a look, "Excuse me, Amethyst, allow me… hmm… uh, well… it appears to be an illustration in some kind of journal."

"C'mon, you know what I mean," Steven said, though Jasper felt herself growing suspicious, as if Pearl was hiding something, "I had a dream where I saw this thing, and Connie, Jasper, and I were wondering if maybe…"

"S-Steven, why don't you and Connie-"

"You can't go there!"

Jasper looked over at Garnet, and her suspicions were confirmed. Garnet and Pearl were hiding something.

"Why not?" Steven asked, and Amethyst gave the two suspiciously nervous gems a similar look.

"Yeah, why not?" Amethyst asked.

Garnet didn't answer, and Steven sighed.

"I thought you were going to tell me everything from now on…" Steven said, disappointed.

"Oh, Steven, we-"

Pearl didn't get to finish that sentence before Steven seemed to snap for the first time Jasper had seen.

"Does this have anything to do with my mom?!" Steven asked, "What is it about this that you can't tell me!

"Steven, you're making Pearl _very_ upset," Garnet said, and Pearl was visibly shaking.

"No! I'm very upset!" Steven protested, and Connie backed away towards where Jasper and Amethyst were. Amethyst had gotten out some popcorn from somewhere, and Jasper knew better than to ask where. She was more worried than hungry, however, and she and Connie shared a nervous glance at one another.

"We're. Not. Going." Garnet said, stubborn in her decision, "Rose never wanted you to see this place."

"Rose wanted- what about what _I_ want?! I'm sick of everyone _lying_ to me! Rose is _my_ mom, and out of anyone, don't I deserve to know the truth?!" Steven yelled, and Jasper found herself very concerned. She wasn't sure whether curiosity or caution would win this battle.

"This isn't the time," Garnet answered.

"I don't care! I wanna go there _now_!"

"Steven!" Garnet hissed as if she were in pain. Jasper found that curiosity was starting to win.

"I'm sorry…" Connie said, "I shouldn't have brought the book…"

"Yes, you should've brought it," Steven interjected, his voice harsher than Jasper thought it could ever get, "It's lucky something has some information that I don't have to get out of _them_!"

The group was silent.

"Connie," Steven said, "I need to borrow this book."

"Okay, just be careful," Connie said, "I've gotta return it to the library in a week."

"Thanks," Steven said, walking towards the door and out of the beach house.

"Wait, Steven-" Connie went to follow him, but Garnet stopped her as the door shut.

Jasper saw Garnet go outside only moments later, and again try to convince Steven to not go, which even Jasper could foresee would fail. Minutes later, a dejected Garnet re-entered the beach house. Pearl had gone to her room, wherever it was, and Amethyst had followed suit. Connie had gone home for the day, and so it only left Jasper in the beach house.

"You want to go with him, don't you," Garnet said before Jasper could announce that very fact to her.

Jasper nodded.

"You're… if you go," Garnet said, "You're going to find out some things about… just… some things that are going to change your perspective. So… I need you to promise me a few things."

"And what are those?" Jasper asked.

"First, protect Steven, please," Garnet said, "And second… don't blame him. He's not Rose."

"…Got it," Jasper answered. She knew she couldn't think too hard on those words, and she went out of the beach house to find Steven.

It didn't take long to find Steven talking to his dad about going to wherever the Palanquin was, and Steven saw Jasper as the two were getting ready to leave.

"Jasper!" Steven said, running over to her, "Why are you here? Did… did Garnet send you to change my mind?"

"No," Jasper said, shaking her head, "I want to go with you."

"You do?" Steven asked, "I mean… I figured, but-"

"That palanquin has something to do with my past…" Jasper said, "And I want to find out why. Going there is the best option I have."

Steven grinned, "Then you're going with us! We were just about to leave!"

Jasper found herself smiling, though she knew this was only the beginning of a journey that would reveal at least something about the flashbacks she was having. Curiosity had won this battle.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39 - Her

Jasper never wanted to have to be on a plane like that ever again. It wasn't the height. It wasn't the speed. It was the cold.

Steven had initially wanted to focus entirely on finding the palanquin, but his dad, Greg, had convinced Steven that there was time for a little fun. Fun translated to this activity called tourism.

And so, Jasper learned what tourism was, and a lot of other things about this part of Earth called South Korea. She was starting to understand Peridot's fascination with clothes, although it wasn't the same type of fascination Peridot had with Camp Pining Hearts. Clothing itself was a form of expression which is why even Jasper found she could enjoy it.

The bus ride wasn't as fun. Jasper didn't quite fit into the seats and was relieved to finally get off.

"Kamsahamnida- aw, what's the hurry?" Greg said as the bus rushed off. Jasper stepped forward and followed Steven, and Greg soon ran after them.

"This is it," Steven said.

"You sure this is the place?" Greg said, in the same concerned tone Jasper subconsciously felt she couldn't stand. There was something about that tone that almost reminded her of something.

But she couldn't remember what.

"Yeah," Steven answered, looking up at his dad, "It's hard to explain, but I can feel it."

Jasper didn't quite recognize this place, but she knew Steven was definitely right. Something about this area was terribly familiar.

"Huh," Greg said, "Sure is pretty here. So does any of this look familiar to you- Steven?"

Steven was crying again. Not only that, but Jasper was starting to feel some kind of massive presence she just couldn't recognize.

"Whoa, you okay? It's happening again," Greg said, making sure Steven was okay. The same tone. Jasper didn't understand what bothered her about it.

"I-I'm fine," Steven said, "Let's keep going."

"C'mon, uh, let's take a break," Greg suggested, "I think this mountain is really messing me up."

"No, dad, this can only mean we're getting closer! C'mon!"

Steven broke into a run and the three approached a chain link fence with a sign on it saying "KEEP OUT" in two different languages. Below, it had the word "Please" in a cursive handwriting that Greg seemed to recognize.

"Dad, Jasper, help me jump the fence," Steven said.

"Oh boy," Greg said, going to help Steven jump the fence, "We're doing this."

Steven hopped the fence first, followed by Jasper, then by Greg's bags, and then, finally, Greg clumsily fell over the fence.

"Oof," Greg remarked, looking at Steven, "Your dad can't really jump fences like he used to."

"Dad, Jasper, look," Steven said, and Jasper looked over to where Steven was looking.

 _Oh no._

"This is it," Steven said, as the three approached a similar looking palanquin to the drawing and to the one in Steven's dream, "But… it's different? I-In my dream, it was all broken down, and pink!"

"Maybe it got a paint job?" Greg asked.

Jasper knew who that foreboding presence belonged to now.

"Hide," Jasper remarked, and the three did.

"Oh, Pink. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

Greg and Steven were hiding in a bush somewhat closer to the voice than Jasper was, but they could all see it all the same.

 _Blue… Diamond…_ Jasper thought, and then froze as she looked at the broken Pink Palanquin, now slowly being overtaken by grass, moss, and flowers.

"I should have done more. Yellow says it'll all be over soon. I wonder what you would think."

"This is _your_ planet, after all. I still think it is."

Jasper didn't feel solid anymore as she began to remember. The Pink Palanquin. It felt as if time stood still when it happened.

Jasper remembered finding out about the plot. She didn't know many details, and had to break so many rules to learn just the few. There was going to be an attempt on Her Diamond's life. She didn't have much time left.

It felt like time stood still. Nothing else moved as Jasper saw herself sprinting up the mountain, fighting through gems. She wasn't sure if they were her allies or her enemies. She didn't care. She was notorious for failing to discriminate foe and friend when situations became this dire.

Breaking through the lines, she finally reached the Palanquin. Her Diamond was outside of it. Jasper didn't know why. Her Diamond shouldn't have been outside of it. She only heard the impact, and nothing else. A sword, right through Her Diamond.

Was she poofed? Was she…

Who had done it?

Jasper couldn't let them get away, hearing herself shout as it happened, running forward and trying to stop the gem with similar stature. Another Quartz, but different.

It was a Rose Quartz. No. It was _that_ Rose Quartz. It couldn't have been any other. Jasper hadn't seen another Rose Quartz since she came out of the earth. There was only one, and Jasper wasn't sure why. She didn't care.

She lunged and then everything was gone.

She couldn't see anything anymore.

So that was why she had a grudge against Rose Quartz. How could she have forgotten?

Her Diamond was gone because of that gem. The Diamond for whom Jasper was made to fight for. Her Diamond.

Pink Diamond.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES

I may be taking a break for next week. I had a really rough week and I'm still trying to cope with not being able to do a lot. Jasper's Journey, though, feels like an obligation and something that I can do, so I'm going to do my best to stay on schedule. I just hope that if I do end up skipping next Friday, you all will be okay with that. It's been a rough week.

On the other hand, wow, Jasper, took you long enough.

Thanks to SneezySoul again for beta reading this chapter!


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40 - Purpose**

By the time Jasper was able to get her bearings and become stable again, it was nighttime and she was alone. Blue Diamond's palanquin was gone, as were Steven and Greg.

 _My form must have destabilized._ Jasper thought, looking at herself, _That would be an understandable reaction to…_

Jasper almost felt her form destabilize again, and she looked down at herself to make sure she was all there before going to clutch her forehead in pain.

 _…I need to find a warp pad._ Jasper thought, _But…_

She turned and looked at the broken palanquin covered in flowers. It looked so peaceful.

 _Is this really where it happened…_ Jasper thought, _And why didn't I remember until now…_

"Heh, and I thought talking through Malachite was a doozy…" Jasper smirked mercilessly at herself with a small laugh as she walked up to the broken palanquin.

Jasper took a breath, and looked up at it. Now she could remember Pink Diamond so clearly, but still, something felt wrong.

"What happened here…?" Jasper asked no one in particular, "She was… _shattered_ here… by Rose Quartz…"

 _Don't blame him. He's not Rose._ Jasper remembered Garnet's words. _So… she knew. Pearl probably knew, too. But of course they did… and of course they wouldn't tell me because it's not something they wanted Steven to know…_

Jasper frowned, _Something doesn't feel right. A Quartz shouldn't be able to do that, or at least not on her own._

 _…I only heard that something was going to happen, so I rushed here to try to protect you… but where was everyone else? Was no one else paying attention? That can't be right…_ Jasper continued to question her memory. _No one would be able to get that close in the first place… Maybe I'm missing something… something I still can't remember…_

And finally, it dawned on Jasper. There was something she needed to do. There was a purpose she needed to fulfill.

"…I'm going to find out what really happened here," Jasper said, looking up at what could be called Pink Diamond's grave, "No matter what. The truth deserves to be known. For you, and for all of us."

Jasper paused before turning to walk away from the palanquin. She needed to find a warp pad, and thankfully had a good idea of where one would be.

It took an hour or two before Jasper was able to find the warp pad she knew she had used numerous times during the war, and so she warped to the warp pad near the barn. She knew she needed to return to Homeworld, and the Rubies were going to return to that area once they figured out that Jasper wasn't on Neptune. It probably wouldn't be too long. Now, she would just have to wait for them.

Days went by without a sign of the Rubies, and Jasper found herself wishing she had some snacks, but didn't want to be found. She didn't want to have to explain to any of the other gems, and especially not to Steven, why she had decided to return to Homeworld. It would be too painful.

 _They'll probably want me to file a report to Yellow Diamond on how the mission failed…_ Jasper frowned, _Yellow Diamond knows the Crystal Gems are still on Earth, but doesn't know that the Cluster has been bubbled. Explaining that by itself would already be a challenge. She also probably doesn't know what Steven is… So what do I say in the report…_

 _Maybe that the ship crashed due to a geomagnetic storm that shifted the earth's magnetosphere… but the ship doesn't run on magnetics…_ Jasper frowned, _Well… I'm just a Jasper, so I guess I could get away with just saying the ship crashed probably due to a mechanical failure, but I never got to determine it. No amount of technobabble from a Jasper is going to help make this report convincing._

"Jasper!?"

 _And if they ask about Peridot and Lapis Lazuli, I'll just have to say I lost track of them… after that I'll either be informed of Peridot's defection or put under a period of surveillance to ensure that I'm not a double agent… probably both._

"Jasper!"

Jasper looked up, finally aware her name was being called. Peridot had found her, and she quickly assumed Lapis Lazuli wasn't far behind: she wasn't.

"Where have you been!? Steven said that he lost track of you just before Greg got taken by Blue Diamond!"

 _Wow. I missed all that?_ Jasper thought to herself, _I'm sure he's got it under control, though._

"Uh," Jasper answered, "It's a long story."

"Well, we've got time," Peridot retorted, "They're off to the human zoo to get Greg back."

 _Human Zoo- oh._ Jasper paused and started to briefly remember something. Pink Diamond had a fascination with the human species on Earth, and made a zoo to preserve the species. Jasper let out a tiny laugh, _Of course she did._

"I remembered something important," Jasper answered, "About… her. About Pink Diamond."

Peridot and Lapis Lazuli looked at each other.

"Yeah. Steven got some answers from Garnet and Pearl about her…" Lapis Lazuli said after a moment of hesitation, "He filled us in… about how Rose Quartz- his mom, she-"

"Shattered her," Peridot finished the sentence, getting right to the point as usual.

Jasper found she hadn't flinched at the word this time.

Jasper took a breath and stood up, "I'm going back."

"What?!" The two other gems said, surprised.

Peridot shook her head, "Jasper, you can't- you don't know what will happen to you-"

"Sure I will," Jasper interrupted, "I can just falsify the report and act like a loyal Homeworld soldier again."

"…You've got an ulterior motive," Lapis Lazuli remarked, "So… what is it?"

"I need to find out what happened to her," Jasper answered as bluntly as she could.

"It's pretty simple… Rose Quartz shattered her," Peridot said, "There's not really anything else to say."

"I don't think it's that black and white," Jasper replied, "there's no way… that a Quartz soldier would have been able to shatter a Diamond. Not without help. There's got to be more to it."

"…You've got a point," Peridot admitted, "Though, how are you going to get back?"

"Those Rubies are gonna come back at some point, aren't they?" Jasper said, "Heck… how did Steven and the others get to the zoo?"

"I repurposed some of the parts to the old hand ship and Pearl and I managed to make a ship that'll get them there," Peridot answered, "Simple enough, honestly."

"Of course," Jasper said.

"The Rubies could be here any day now," Lapis Lazuli said, crossing her arms, "Are you… are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Whether it's a good idea or not doesn't really matter," Jasper said, "I need answers. And I'm only going to be able to get them through Homeworld."

"How do you know that?"

"Well," Jasper said, "There's another gem… a very powerful one, who is also looking for the same sort of answers as I am. Or at least… I have a lot of reason to think so."

Jasper shrugged, and glanced over at Lapis Lazuli in particular as she said the true reason she needed to get these answers.

"I found a purpose."

For a second Jasper thought Lapis Lazuli had smiled at that.

"So wait," Peridot interrupted, "What if… what if your investigation produces results that continue to indicate that… that Rose Quartz was the culprit?"

Jasper paused as she looked at the worried expression of Peridot. The worry was contagious and Jasper understood why.

"That's why I can't stay here," Jasper answered after pausing for what felt like too long just to get the words out, "For... for his sake."

 _Fwoosh!_

"They're here," Peridot said, "…Good luck, Jasper."

"…Take care of yourself," Lapis Lazuli said as she and Peridot were about to leave.

Jasper found she had a tiny smile as she turned and waved goodbye before walking away from them and further into the forest. The Ruby ship was in the air, and it paused above the forest somewhat close to Jasper and located her. She waved and the ship sped to land near her. She already had an excuse in mind, telling the Rubies they must have missed her on Neptune. She felt prepared for the admittedly terrifying balancing act she was about to preform for who knows how long.

She was on her way back to Homeworld. 

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey I'm going to a convention next weekend and might not get chapter 41 up on time but on the other hand I might get to meet the voice actresses of Amethyst and Peridot and that'd be super cool. See you all in two weeks if I don't get 41 up this Friday.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41 - Back 'Home'

The Rubies were unexpectedly enthusiastic to see her, and Jasper had gotten rusty on typical Homeworld conventions and felt she had paused too many times when she had to speak to the Rubies.

It was a good thing that they were Rubies, otherwise Jasper would have raised far too much suspicion. It was going to take a while to get to Homeworld and Jasper needed to think of a convincing, but false report to give to Yellow Diamond. She was starting to feel the pressure, since she would have to give the report in person.

While she knew Diamonds were not invincible due to remembering what had happened to her original Diamond, they were certainly far smarter than any other Gem Jasper could think of and wouldn't easily be fooled. She knew that Peridot had already contacted Yellow Diamond briefly, informing her of the ship's demise and a falsified version of how it came to such an end, which Jasper felt made making her report easier. The only tricky part would be answering why it took such a long time for the Rubies to find her.

She figured she could use that to her advantage in the end, and say that the Rubies had a difficult time finding her because she was in hiding from the Crystal Gems, who collectively could defeat her and individually were rarely ever without the rest of their group. She would have to say that she fought them, which wasn't a lie, and that they used fusion in order to defeat her, which also wasn't a lie, so Jasper figured giving the report would actually be somewhat easier than she had originally thought.

She would just have to get through actually giving the report, and then she would be okay, at least then. At least, Jasper hoped for that.

It didn't take nearly as long for them to arrive at Homeworld as Jasper thought it should have, but that didn't surprise her too badly. It had just… been a while.

Homeworld always made Jasper feel uncomfortable. Every structure built on that planet was massive, and as large of a gem Jasper knew she was, it made her feel small and insecure. Maybe that was the point.

And so the group walked and gained clearance to enter a big yellow diamond shaped door. After a short wait, the door opened and Jasper and the Rubies entered. It was time to give the report, and for Jasper, entering the Yellow Diamond Control Room felt like entering an interrogation chamber.

"My Diamond," the leader of the Ruby team did the diamond salute, and the other Rubies followed, "We've brought back Jasper, as was requested. She's here to give her report."

Jasper scrambled to do the diamond salute, which mentally almost hurt her to do. She was late not because she hadn't intended to salute, but because she was starting to feel exhausted. Gems didn't need sleep, but they did sometimes need rest.

"Are you aware of the report that the Peridot assigned to your Earth Mission gave?"

It was very like Yellow Diamond to get straight to the point without allowing her Pearl to lecture anyone. Jasper shook her head to answer that she did not. It was a lie, but one that Yellow Diamond was more inclined to believe.

"So is it true that there was an accident while you were landing?" Yellow Diamond continued her line of questioning. She was cross checking what Peridot had said. Jasper nodded to say that they did. Another lie.

"And how was it that you were separated from the rest of the team sent to Earth?"

"The Crystal Gems that remained on Earth were close by when our ship crashed, so I couldn't stay long at the crash site to find them." Jasper answered.

Chances were that Yellow Diamond knew there were gems left on the planet. Peridot knew before they had even been assigned to land there.

"You couldn't defeat them on your own?" Yellow Diamond asked, and Jasper nodded.

"If it was a fair fight, maybe," Jasper scoffed, finding it was easier to act with an attitude she previously had.

"And… was _she_ one of those… gems that remained on Earth?"

Jasper shook her head, "She wasn't one of the ones I encountered."

This was true. The Rose Quartz Yellow Diamond was referring to was not one of the gems Jasper had encountered. Steven wasn't her.

"Good," Yellow Diamond remarked, "Thank you for your report. You are dismissed."

Jasper had a feeling there was more to Yellow Diamond's response to the report than what had been said. She'd have to be on her guard.

Jasper was shown to her quarters, unused for over a year now, and terribly dusty. Once she arrived she found that there was a Peridot in there, assumedly setting up the technology which was basic in all gem quarters. This Peridot was more yellow in color than the Peridot with whom Jasper had worked with, and her gem was located on her left shoulder. She was surprised to hear the door open.

"Dang it… I'm _still_ behind schedule…" the Yellow Peridot mumbled, still melding together some loose wires, "I wish people would stop checking on me while I'm working…"

"These are my quarters," Jasper replied.

"Oh. Then I guess you're going to stick around," the Yellow Peridot replied, continuing to work on the wires. "Sorry for not being done here yet."

Jasper decided to leave her alone for the time being, but her curiosity quickly got the better of her.

"What are you setting up?" Jasper asked.

"Your computer," the Yellow Peridot answered, "The specs and interface are totally outdated. How long have you been gone?"

"Over a year… I think," Jasper answered.

"Go figure," Yellow Peridot replied, rolling her eyes, "Didn't think it'd take this long… sheesh."

There was a flash and a tiny explosion sound, which caused Yellow Peridot to fall backwards. One of her limb enhancers started to malfunction and the cylindrical fingers fell to the floor, one of which rolling towards Jasper, who decided to grab it before Yellow Peridot could notice. Thankfully, she hadn't.

"Ugh… where's the fifth one… Did you see it roll somewhere?" She asked, looking over at Jasper, who shook her head to answer that she hadn't.

Another lie. But Peridots were certainly easier to deceive than Diamonds were.

"…I'll just have to finish it without it… can probably get another one from the mechanics lab later…" Yellow Peridot mumbled, returning to her work. Soon enough, the lights in Jasper's room finally came on and the holographic computer screen booted up and showed the sign in screen.

"Finally," Yellow Peridot said, exasperated, "Before I go, since you've been patient, are there any chatrooms you want to be connected to?"

"Chatrooms?" Jasper asked, "Huh… can you get me connected to the other Gems originally from Earth?"

"You mean _that_ chatroom?" Yellow Peridot looked surprised, "I mean… if you want a chatroom that's constantly pinging you… sure, I can do that."

And so she did.

"All right… you're connected. Have a good… day, I guess," Yellow Peridot said after connecting Jasper to the specified chatroom, and then left. Jasper was now alone in her quarters.

Or, to someone who didn't know how things worked in Homeworld, she would appear to be alone. Jasper knew she wasn't. Yellow Diamond wouldn't just leave Jasper unmonitored after Peridot's outburst on her report, even though Jasper had claimed to know nothing about it. There had to be a Nephrite spying on her.

Nephrites were gems specifically made to spy on other gems, and Jasper only knew about them because she'd had Nephrites report to her during the war on Earth. Most gems had no clue they even existed and it was through sheer luck that Jasper ended up in a high enough position in the war to have any Nephrite report to her. Usually they reported straight to the Diamonds or to a superior Nephrite.

 _This one must be new._ Jasper thought, _Or at least not as good as the other Nephrites I've met. Usually they would know if someone was in the room they're entering._

Jasper knew there was a Nephrite here, not necessarily because she had _noticed_ that the Nephrite was there, but because of certain things the Yellow Peridot had said. The superiors to Peridots didn't often check on them since Peridots had pretty trackable jobs. If they needed to check if a Peridot was finished with their job, they would just check to see if that specific system was working.

It meant the door had opened for someone who was authorized to be in there prior to when Jasper had arrived.

Additionally, when the lights finally turned on, Jasper was able to catch a glimpse of the Nephrite before they were able to camouflage into the correct color tone.

"So Yellow's suspicious of me, huh? Not surprising," Jasper decided to say after several minutes of lounging around the room. "You aren't very good at your job."

No response. Jasper almost laughed.

"I'm talking to you, y'know," Jasper said, looking right at where the Nephrite was. Nephrites when camouflaged couldn't move much, otherwise their camouflage would give them away since motion was visible and Jasper was built to react quickly to motion.

"You've got to be kidding me," the Nephrite finally answered, their camouflage coming undone, "How? How did a _Quartz_ notice me? Am I that bad at my job… sheesh, I'm so shattered if-"

"Calm down," Jasper said, "I'm not just gonna go run off yelling 'why the heck am I being spied on!'."

"You aren't?" The Nephrite said, visibly surprised, and then relieved, "Oh thank goodness… but why?"

"Well… you're assigned to spying on me, and if they find out _you_ messed up so quickly on something as easy as spying on a Quartz, well… you'd be in trouble. So let's make a deal," Jasper said, "I hope your recorder is off."

"…right," the Nephrite said, tapping a button on their vest.

"For your own sake you ought to delete that," Jasper said, letting out a small laugh.

The Nephrite did. Jasper then began to explain the deal.

"Listen," Jasper remarked, "There are things I'm trying to find out that are… probably highly controversial and-or classified, so I'm eventually going to be doing some stuff that you would normally have to report to Yellow Diamond right away."

"Lemme guess… you're one of the gems that had induced amnesia and you remembered Pink Diamond?" The Nephrite asked, and Jasper paused.

"Huh, so that's what happened. That just makes things even more suspicious," Jasper remarked.

"It's almost common knowledge around here now. The gems Yellow Diamond took after what happened on Earth, the gems that were originally Pink Diamond's? She had amnesia induced in them so there wouldn't be any complications with using the Earth to create a Cluster. It's something of a breach of trust but she's a Diamond, so what can you do?" The Nephrite answered.

"You talk a lot," Jasper remarked and the Nephrite covered her mouth with a blush. Nephrites _loved_ to talk about controversial stuff like this, and though they were able to keep the intel they got from their missions a secret, anything else was something they were entirely eager to share. They loved their gossip.

"Don't worry about it. That just means we're going to get along," Jasper laughed, "Anyways, so long as you don't report to anyone about what I'm looking into or what I find out, I won't tell anyone that you've bungled up your mission within the first ten minutes of being in the same room as me. Deal?"

Jasper held out her hand for a handshake. It was old fashioned but it was a way of confirming consent to the deal.

"…Yeah, deal." The Nephrite answered, shaking Jasper's hand, "I'd get shattered if you told anyone, so I don't have much of a choice."

"I'm not a huge fan of gems getting shattered either," Jasper answered, "Now go… do whatever. 'Spy' on me some more, or go do something else. Doesn't really matter to me."

"…Right," Nephrite replied, "I think I'm just gonna go."

"Nice meeting you," Jasper said as the door opened and the Nephrite left, camouflaging herself again. Again, the existence of Nephrites weren't common knowledge and were supposed to stay that way.

Jasper decided to check out the chatroom which Yellow Peridot had seemed so adverse to connecting her, or anyone, to. She signed in and the chat screen popped up.

 _JASPER has joined the Pink Zoo chatroom._

"Oh hey, someone new!"

Chatrooms were now mostly voice chat, but Jasper noticed there were options for that, including video. Apparently these Amethysts were a fan of that.

"Aw jeez, which Jasper is it? We've already got at least four in here… can you guys figure out some nicknames?"

"Skinny already has one… then there's Stripes, Orange, and…"

"I'm not that great at names, guys, chill."

"None of us are, but still!"

 _JASPER's name has been changed to Cheeto._

"That's better."

 _What._ Jasper thought. This was indeed a lot more overwhelming than she had expected.

The video chat was full of Amethysts and a few Jaspers, plus one Carnelian, and the chat was full of dumb images and jokes. Jasper was surprised but only for a moment.

"So… you're all stationed at the Zoo now?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah. Which J- OH, are you the really big one?"

"It's gotta be," one of the Jaspers, Stripes, answered, "Is your nose your gem?"

"Yes," Jasper answered, and that settled it.

"Aw man, we thought we'd never get to talk to you again! Yellow Diamond doesn't really like the Zoo," one of the Amethysts said.

"Remember that time when you actually threw Carnelian across the Kindergarden?"

Jasper actually remembered that.

"This is _that_ Jasper?" Carnelian said, evidently excited, "Dude, you were like… the BEST. It's too bad they sent you to all sorts of battles so we didn't get to hang out that much."

These were the Amethysts, Jaspers, and the one Carnelian Jasper was aware of that were made on Earth. Back before the war took over everything, they were her friends. They would spar, throw around some of the smaller gems, do all sorts of dumb but fun things. It'd let them forget that any one of them could get shattered the next time they had to fight in a real battle, even if just for a little while.

"Nice to talk to you guys again," Jasper said, smiling.

Another Amethyst signed on, their screen name being 8XM. "Guys, Holy Blue is going crazy. Apparently Blue Diamond's here and she brought a new human for the zoo?"

"Oh jeez. We better go. Talk to you some other time, Cheeto!" Another Amethyst, 8XJ said.

 _Wait… Blue Diamond at the Zoo, having brought a new human-_

"Wait," Jasper interrupted, "Can I ask you guys to do me a huge favor?"

"Sure, but tell us quick before Holy Blue gets here," 8XM replied.

"There are gonna be some more… unexpected guests at the Zoo some time soon, and if you could watch out for them and help them out if you could, I'd be really grateful."

"You got it cap," 8XM said with a grin, "Sounds like fun."

Suddenly, all of the other Earth gems almost simultaneously signed off just after Jasper was able to hear the yelling of who was probably Holy Blue.

Jasper just hoped that her warning would help.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42 - The Zoo

"I can't believe a Jasper managed to steal one of my limb enhancer fingers… and now you're using it as leverage…" Yellow Peridot frowned.

Jasper knew she was still being spied on. She even knew that Nephrite was in this hallway at this very moment. But it didn't matter. Jasper needed to get Yellow Peridot to do this quickly.

The two walked through the hall, and Jasper responded.

"I just need you to install some visual connections to the Human Zoo. It shouldn't be difficult," Jasper kept walking, "We can talk more if you can agree to do at least that. There's more in it for you than you think."

Yellow Peridot paused, "Wait… more in it for me? What do you mean?" Her face contorted into something more irritated than her face already was, "Did you steal _two_ of m-"

"No," Jasper almost laughed, "That'd be silly. It's something else. I can't tell you here because… well…"

Jasper hoped her trailing off would hook Yellow Peridot into agreeing.

It did.

"Alright, but just because I'm too curious for my own good… I'll install the visual links. You just have to send me a request for maintenance. Make something up, like… your screen is messing up or whatever, or it won't turn on. Something that happens all the time like that," Yellow Peridot answered.

"I can't really send a request for maintenance without my screen working," Jasper answered, "Which is why I had to run around to find you. Did I not explain that? Whoops."

Yellow Peridot almost smiled, "All right… so is it just… not turning on?"

Jasper nodded.

"Have you tried- wait, no, turning it off and on again can't work because you can't turn it on…"

"I bet you're used to having to tell gems like me to do that," Jasper remarked.

"You'd be surprised… it's almost every gem, not just Quartzes. The usual problem Quartzes have is that they physically broke something and need it fixed," Yellow Peridot answered.

They got to Jasper's quarters and then the door shut.

"Okay," Yellow Peridot went straight for Jasper's screen's actual mechanical setup, "This shouldn't take too long."

It didn't. The visual links were up and running within a few minutes of Yellow Peridot starting her work on the mainframe of the room.

"You didn't even ask for the other stuff," Jasper said.

"Oh, shoot, right," Yellow Peridot frowned.

"I get that," Jasper answered. "So… you know how all of you Era 2 Peridots get limb enhancers because you're supposedly powerless due to a lack of resources?"

"Sore subject… but yes," Yellow Peridot answered.

"Turns out, that's wrong."

"Wait-" Yellow Peridot knew she said that too loudly, and whispered the next part, "What?!"

"Yeah," Jasper answered, "The Peridot that was assigned to the earth mission figured out she could manipulate metal. Pretty neat, right?"

"So… the Diamonds only want us to think we're powerless?" Yellow Peridot asked.

"I suppose so." Jasper shrugged, "Dunno why they'd do that. Probably some uniformity thing or whatever."

"…I'll have to try and figure that out during my break," Yellow Peridot remarked, "Manipulating metal… are you sure?"

"Seen it myself," Jasper answered. She had, but only briefly. Peridot still didn't have the best grasp on those powers, but they certainly existed.

Once Yellow Peridot had left, Jasper started looking through the visual links.

 _Wow, she got everything._ Jasper thought, _There are so many rooms…_

"State your purpose."

Jasper caught audio coming from the main entrance door of the Zoo and quickly plugged in the gem equivalent of headphones.

"Dang it, I wanted to hear that…" Jasper just barely was able to hear Nephrite speak.

"Here," Jasper handed Nephrite one of the ear buds, who gratefully took it. She wasn't opposed to the Nephrite listening in, and it was yet another way to guarantee she wouldn't rat Jasper out.

"I'm here to make a delivery to the human zoo."

That was a Sapphire. Jasper realized that Garnet had unfused for this specific purpose.

 _Wow._

"Bad news," one of the Amethyst guards replied, "The human zoo shut down, which means we'll just have to throw you into space."

Steven whimpered. Jasper found herself rolling her eyes.

The Amethysts laughed.

"Heh, look, he believed me," the same Amethyst guard said, looking at the other.

"What are you doing?"

The Amethysts flinched. Jasper realized this was Holly Blue, the same gem that the Amethysts had spoken about before.

"Nothing, Holly Blue Agate," The Amethyst guards said in unison. Holly Blue gasped once she saw Sapphire.

"Why didn't you tell me there was a _Sapphire_ here?" She said angrily, "What have you miscreants been saying to them?!"

Jasper rolled her eyes again. _Typical Agates._

"Nothing, Holly," the second Amethyst guard answered.

Holly Blue ignored the Amethysts and spoke to Sapphire. "You'll have to forgive them. They're from Earth."

She ordered the two to apologize, and they did, although improperly the first time. Sapphire handled it well, as she probably would.

"Oh, how unprecedented! Nothing for millennia, and then two humans back to back! Well, it's probably for the best that the first wasn't in the best condition."

Jasper felt a pang of guilt for that. In that time span spent to deal with said pang of guilt, Steven had said something and then was shushed by Ruby.

Holly Blue Agate, as arrogant and talkative as Jasper expected, spoke again, "Oh, their incessant barking. What _is_ it saying?" She laughed. Jasper grimaced ever so slightly at that total disregard for Steven. "I'm sure Blue Diamond would want to thank you personally, but you just missed her. Amethyst, take this human to the—"

Sapphire quickly interrupted, "Wait! The thing is… we've traveled so far, and it would be a shame to leave so quickly. Perhaps you'd grant us a tour of the facility?"

 _Smooth._ Jasper thought. It wasn't entirely sarcastic.

"I would be honored!" Holly Blue replied. "Right this way, your Grand Clarity. Amethysts are to stay and guard the door."

 _Oh no, they're all being separated…_ Jasper frowned. She needed to find the cameras everyone was headed to quickly.

After a minute, Jasper managed to get a handle on what cameras were where with some help from Nephrite. Jasper couldn't figure out where Amethyst had gone, but the rest of the group had yet again split up. Sapphire was with Holly Blue, continuing the tour, and Ruby, Steven, and Pearl were trying to get a door open. Holly Blue and Sapphire were already on their way back.

 _Oh, this ought to be good…_ Jasper thought. This was entirely sarcastic.

"What is going on?!" Holly Blue Agate said once she had spotted the dent in the door.

"Well, I'm sure there is a reasonable-" Sapphire attempted to rectify the situation, but in the end it wasn't needed.

"Did you see the Amethyst that did this?!" Holly Blue said, and the others sighed in unison. Jasper recognized it as relief.

"Really? We have guests!" Holly Blue said under her breath, before two Amethyst Guards ran over to her.

"Holly Blue Agate! We have important news for you!" The first guard yelled frantically.

"We do _not_ run or shout in these hallways!" Holly Blue answered, shouting the second half of the statement as if she knew what ironic comedy was.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"How am I supposed to know what you're saying when you're mumbling?" Holly Blue criticized again.

"Jeez, she's harsh," Nephrite remarked, and Jasper nodded to agree.

"Uhh, I'm sorry, Holly Blue Agate," the other Amethyst said, taking over since her partner wasn't having a great time communicating with Holly Blue, "it's just that—"

"BLUE DIAMOND IS ON HER WAY!" The first Amethyst yelled, and this time, the yelling wasn't criticized.

"Oh my stars!" Holly Blue said, "She's back already? You two, best behavior!" She corrected the various bad behaviors of the two Amethyst's, which Jasper tried not to pay much attention to since it only made her angry. "And surely," Holly Blue turned to Sapphire again, "Blue Diamond would want to thank you personally for this special delivery, your grand Clarity."

"Y-yes, I suppose she will," Sapphire answered.

"These are the Crystal Gems, aren't they?" Nephrite asked, and Jasper nodded.

"This is gonna be rough," Jasper remarked. She didn't have to know Sapphire and Ruby's entire past with Blue Diamond to know it was going to be tense.

Holly Blue Agate ordered the Amethysts to bring Steven to the Human Zoo. Jasper wasn't able to get a visual link to the actual assimilation bay, but did have several in the Human Zoo itself, so she pulled those up. After this order was given, Holly Blue, Ruby, Sapphire, and Pearl, all had to, as Holly Blue had stated, prepare for Blue Diamond's arrival.

"Let's focus on whatever's happening in the Zoo…" Jasper said, looking over at those windows. "Jeez… that place actually seems nice… at least on the surface."

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind being one of the humans there. They don't have any stress or anything. They get all their basic needs taken care of and they don't have to worry about anything at all," Nephrite remarked. "Sounds like a great place to me."

"Considering your job… I get that," Jasper remarked, "But there's no freedom of choice in it. That's my issue with living like that."

"Freedom of choice, huh?" Nephrite asked.

"Yeah. Like… choosing what you want to do. Who you want to be. That sort of thing," Jasper answered.

"Isn't the desire of that freedom what started the Gem Rebellion on Earth?" Nephrite asked.

"To be frank, I really don't know. But that'd make sense," Jasper answered. "Those aren't the answers that are important to me, though…"

"Right," Nephrite replied. "Gotcha."

The Zoo progressed as what Jasper interpreted to be normal until an event called 'The Choosening' began.

"The heck is this…" Jasper remarked.

"Oooh! This is the _best_ part to watch if you ever get the chance. I don't really understand it, but basically the voice program which runs the zoo-human schedule matches two humans up together to do… not really anything significant. Just be really close to one another, or share a bond that's more intense than the normal one."

 _Oh._ Jasper thought, remembering a conversation she had long ago with Garnet.

"But… that gets chosen for them?" Jasper shook her head, "They never knew conflict… so they don't question it. They… don't know _how_ to question that process."

"Pretty much," Nephrite answered. "Oooh, the new big human's getting matched finally."

Jasper looked over to see Greg saying something.

 _Here it is._ Jasper thought.

"H-Hold on!" Greg said, "This isn't how it works on Earth! I don't want to be told who to be choosened with."

"Ga-reg, that makes no sense," one of the other humans, evidently one raised in the zoo for their entire life, answered, "Why wouldn't you want to be choosened?"

"Look, back on Earth, there was no voice to tell you who to be with. It was your own decision," Greg answered.

"This is new," Nephrite remarked.

"My mom and dad didn't get together because someone told them to. They spent time getting to know one another and fell in love. They choosened each other 'cause that's what they choosed." Steven said.

 _Oh boy._ Jasper thought.

"Hmm, I see," the same human from before replied, "If that's how it's done on Earth, then… I choose Ga-reg."

The rest of the humans native to the zoo also began stating that they 'choosened' Greg.

"Wow. I've never seen any group so unanimously decide that one person is the best for all of them," Nephrite said.

"But that's not how it works," Jasper answered, "It's a two way street."

"What?" Nephrite asked.

"It has to go both ways. Listen," Jasper replied.

"Wait!" Greg interrupted, "I get a say in this, too. You're all very nice, and I'm flattered, and yes, you get to choose whoever you want, but I also get to say that I choose, um… none of you."

" _OH_." Nephrite said, rather loudly for a Nephrite, but still at a decently quiet tone.

The zoo natives began to get upset and soon enough a commotion occurred that required the intervention of the Amethysts stationed at the Zoo. Nearly the entire building was in chaos. Jasper had to work quickly to keep track of Steven and Greg.

"Why are you following them?" Nephrite asked, moving on from the topic of choosening.

"They're… important," Jasper answered after briefly hesitating. Nephrite gave her a look that informed Jasper that she knew there was more to it, but the two continued to watch.

Greg and Steven had found a door that was open and were about to go through it before they were caught by an Amethyst, who stated that they were in big trouble.

She then went totally against protocol and brought them to the barracks.

"…You wouldn't want me to report that, would you," Nephrite remarked, and Jasper smiled, "Well… this story's only getting more interesting."

Jasper pulled up the visual link to the barracks, which was limited but showed Jasper enough to see what was going on.

"These the ones?" The Amethyst who had caught Steven and Greg asked, dropping them. The Amethysts and Jaspers stationed at the barracks who weren't chasing zoomans all laughed, and soon Steven found the Amethyst he was familiar with.

"Steven! Greg!" She said, "They found me out!"

Amethyst was in an armlock and seemingly struggling. Jasper held back her laughter, but maintained a solid smile.

"Amethyst!" Steven said, visibly upset.

"You won't believe what I've been through," Amethyst said, "These Amethysts… they're really, really…"

"Great!"

"Huh?" Steven asked and the Quartzes erupted into laughter. Jasper couldn't help herself and also started to laugh.

"Quartzes," Nephrite remarked, rolling her eyes. She was smiling, though.

Jasper thought for a moment to pull up a video chat with the Zoo Quartzes, but then decided against it. It would give her a easily visible link to the Zoo while this commotion was occurring, and she didn't want to take her chances.

Amethyst had finally been able to meet the other Quartzes from Earth, and honestly, Jasper was glad. It was rare to see her be so happy.

Steven finally got everyone on task after a while, "Hey! Please, if you don't mind me asking, we really need your help. We came in with Sapphire, Ruby, and Pearl, and we've got to find them and get them out of here."

"Don't worry about it," 8XL, one of the Amethysts who led the group, replied, "We've known you guys were coming for a while."

"Wait, really?" Amethyst asked, and 8XL nodded.

"One of our old friends on the inside tipped us off," Skinny remarked, "Sh-"

The door behind Steven opened and Jasper and Nephrite both flinched.

"I'll only be a moment," the voice of Holly Blue was picked up as she ordered the Amethysts to their stations. Blue Diamond had arrived.

"Is she really…" Jasper looked quickly through the various links until she found a specific room. The visual link was slightly glitchy, but Jasper eventually knew exactly what this room was for.

"Wow… look at all those bubbles," Nephrite remarked.

"They didn't shatter all the Rose Quartzes yet," Jasper said.

"You'd think…" Nephrite paused, "Must be Blue Diamond who's holding it off. I mean… there she is. She's been grieving the loss of Pink for millennia."

"I don't blame her," Jasper said, frowning. Nephrite frowned as well.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's okay. You didn't do anything," Jasper answered.

Steven and Greg had gotten into the room. Jasper could only imagine what they were saying. The audio was cut off.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Blue Diamond entered.

"Whoa." Nephrite said.

"There she is," Jasper mumbled.

Blue Diamond was crying. It wasn't exactly a surprise.

The door opened again. This was more of a surprise as Yellow Diamond entered the room.

The audio finally picked up.

"Please tell me you're joking," Yellow Diamond remarked, "You only just left, and y—"

The audio cut out again.

"They're _both_ there? Wow. Whoaaa. That's quite a day for the Zoo." Nephrite remarked.

"And really bad luck for the Crystal Gems," Jasper answered.

The two Diamonds spoke for a while, the Pearls sang, Jasper guessed in attempt to cheer Blue Diamond up, and Jasper and Nephrite were able to witness the rare show of emotion from Yellow Diamond.

And then the audio returned as the door finally opened.

"And we have arrived. That will be all, Pearl." Holly Blue spoke, and continued to speak, not aware that she was speaking to two Diamonds until several titles later.

"Get to the point, Agate," Yellow Diamond stated what everyone else was likely thinking.

"Yes, of course. My deepest apologies. You'll be pleased to know that your Sapphire has completed your special delivery," Holly Blue replied.

"What special delivery?" Blue Diamond asked.

"Oh no," Japser and Nephrite said almost in unison.

"Um, the special delivery you requested from Earth, of course," Holly Blue answered, somewhat nervous.

"I never asked any Sapphire to go to Earth," Blue Diamond stated in a very serious tone.

"I… Um…" Sapphire was freezing up. Jasper almost didn't want to watch but knew she had to.

She managed to see Ruby grab Sapphire's hand, and finally, she was able to respond.

"My… future vision foresaw you, my Diamond, desiring more… humans for the zoo, so I… acted accordingly."

Blue Diamond looked down, "…It's true. The window for preserving Earth specimens is closing."

Jasper let out a sigh of relief, as did Nephrite. Jasper was pretty sure Nephrite just barely knew what was going on, but found it entertaining enough to continue watching. Jasper was almost reminded of she and Peridot watching Camp Pining Hearts, except this was significantly more intense and had significantly larger ramifications if found out.

"Is that what you want?" Yellow Diamond asked Blue, and then turned to Sapphire, "Sapphire, has the Cluster emerged yet?"

"No, it has not," Sapphire answered.

"Then there's still time," Yellow Diamond said, and then clapped twice, "That will be all."

Holly Blue bowed, "My Diamonds," and then the group left, Steven and Greg just managing to get out the door without being seen. Jasper switched to the links to the hallways.

Holly Blue was ecstatic, "Two Diamonds! I can't believe it! Can you believe it? Oh, well, of course you can. You probably foresaw the whole thing!"

"Of course! No surprises here," Sapphire answered almost hesitantly. Holly Blue began to nerd out about meeting Yellow Diamond, and the Crystal Gems took this as a chance to get Steven and Greg into the ship they were using. Though, they didn't get enough time to not get caught.

"So close!" Nephrite said, frowning.

"Yikes," Jasper mumbled.

"What… is… the meaning of this?" Holly Blue Agate interrogated no one in particular. Amethysts appeared in the doorway, and she decided to interrogate them, "Why are these two outside the containment area!?"

Sapphire tried to intervene, "Holly Blue, I can explain-"

"No need, your clarity. Not even you could have foreseen how incompetent these Amethysts are." Holly Blue Agate summoned her weapon, a blue electric whip. "Well, if you want something done right, you just do it yourself. You two are coming with me!"

Jasper smiled as Sapphire and Ruby fused into Garnet. Nephrite was taken entirely aback as Garnet caught the tail of the whip.

Everyone but the Crystal Gems gasped, including Nephrite, and Steven and Greg shouted "Garnet!" In unison.

"Steven, get Greg on board!" Garnet said, and Steven nodded, "We'll handle this noise."

It didn't take much effort to take down Holly Blue, which wasn't a surprise. Pearl sliced the whip in half, and Amethyst spin dashed over to wrap the whip around Holly Blue Agate, immobilizing her.

The Amethysts all cheered.

Garnet approached Holly Blue, summoning a gauntlet. "I've been waiting to do this all day."

She then punched Holly Blue in the stomach area with her other, gauntlet-less hand. The Quartzes laughed.

"What are you DOING? They're traitors! Destroy them!" Holly Blue Agate yelled at the Quartzes, who only laughed and waved, saying their goodbyes.

"Famethyst for life!" Amethyst said on the docking bay of the ship.

"I'll report you to the Diamonds! All of you! You'll all be shattered!" Holly Blue yelled in desperation, and then Pearl approached her.

"You're _really_ going to tell the Diamonds that _you_ allowed a band of traitorous rebels to infiltrate a highly secure facility and escape from right under your careful watch?" Inhaling sharply, Pearl continued, "Doesn't sound like a wise thing to do, Holly Blue."

Pearl stood and joined the rest of the Crystal gems on the docking bay of the now floating ship. "So do yourself a favor and keep your mouth shut. _That_ will be all."

To add insult to injury, Steven clapped twice before the group went into the ship to return to Earth. Jasper shut off all the visual links after that.

"Phew." Jasper said.

"Wow." Nephrite remarked, "You'd be in some deep water if I reported you."

"So would you," Jasper retorted, and Nephrite snickered.

"That didn't mean I was going to do it! This is just… really cool. Like… no one would expect this kind of stuff from a Quartz. You're really something."

"Thanks. I try." Jasper answered, grinning. "Though in all seriousness, we both know stuff and have done stuff that would get us shattered. So let's not sell each other out."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Nephrite replied, still excited, "That was just… super entertaining. It's not something I could ever talk about, but still."

Jasper tried to keep up with Nephrite's unceasing excitement, and though it was a challenge she managed to succeed. Once Nephrite was gone, or at least had resumed doing her actual job, Jasper felt exhausted. Before taking a nap, she decided to pull up her screen again and take a look at the Zoo Quartz chat. Its name had been changed to FAMETHYST 4 LIFE.

 _Cheeto has joined the chat._

She typed out a message.

"Thanks guys."

"CHEETZ!"

"One of them punched Holly Blue! She made a SQUEAKING NOISE! It was HILARIOUS!"

Jasper hadn't expected the spam, but she was glad they were happy about it. The Crystal Gems were, for now, safe. They had gotten Greg back, but Jasper knew this wasn't the end. Yellow and Blue Diamond were intent on getting more humans for the zoo, and this meant that there would likely be another Earth mission. She knew she would have to keep an eye out.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys sorry that I'm not keeping schedule... here's your super long zoo chapter.

My occupational therapists and I figured out a thing that lets me draw for 2 minutes and type for an extended period of time... so there's a little bit of progress there.

On the other hand I'm 89% sure my right arm is dependent on kinesiology tape... which is not so good. I hope you guys are having a good summer.


	43. update

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates on Jasper's Journey!

Other than me just simply neglecting it, my hand specialist has finally given me the OK to go through surgery for de Quervain's tenosynovitis, i think. Basically, it's carpal tunnel but for your thumb.

This hiatus also is because my hand pain has increased substantially, and thus I've been trying to do less with my hands. I actually have De Quervain in both my thumbs, but my dominant hand is the one with the super severe case.

So that surgery is gonna happen sometime in the next month, probably. After that, I'm not going to be able to type very well for several weeks, not that that's much of an improvement from before, but surgery should make my condition better in the end.

I thought I'd post an update just to reiterate: I'm not abandoning this story, and I will complete it eventually. I've just got a bunch going on that's preventing me from writing it.

I hope you understand.

Thanks, everyone.

-Jamitney

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 26: So my surgery got rescheduled to today, so that's happening. And an FYI I do have a steven centric chapter mostly written but it's probably going to sit for a while before I'm able to write again.

thanks again,

-Jamitney


End file.
